Rice’s Moody Center celebrates Rothko Chapel’s 50th anniversary with recreation of historic exhibition
Spring show will also feature contemporary artists influenced by de Menils’ landmark chapel
HOUSTON – (Nov. 16, 2020) – Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts will celebrate the golden anniversary of Houston’s Rothko Chapel with its spring exhibition, “Artists and the Rothko Chapel: 50 Years of Inspiration,” opening Jan. 22, 2021.
The Moody will pay particular homage to an exhibition famously mounted at Rice in 1975, “Marden, Novros, Rothko: Painting in the Age of Actuality,” by restaging the historic show in its entirety.
The unique group exhibition will be accompanied by original programs recognizing the enduring legacy, at Rice and throughout Houston, of philanthropists and art patrons John and Dominique de Menil — chiefly, the influence of their Rothko Chapel.
“Dominique and John de Menil had a vision for Houston, as symbolized by the Rothko Chapel, that has resonated with generations of artists,” said Moody Center associate curator Frauke Josenhans. “After 50 years, the chapel remains a powerful source of inspiration for creators around the globe, not only from an aesthetic point of view but also from a humanistic one.”
In the first section of the spring show, original works by American artists David Novros and Brice Marden will be reunited after 46 years in an immersive recreation of the 1975 show organized at Rice by Harris Rosenstein with the support of Dominique de Menil.
Sam Gilliam, Sheila Hicks, Shirazeh Houshiary and Byron Kim will be among the artists featured in this second section. Indoors, the exhibition will span the Moody’s Brown Foundation, Central Gallery and Media Gallery; outside, the show continues underneath the Pitman Oculus.
By presenting these artists together for the first time, and in celebration of the chapel’s 50th anniversary, visitors will have an opportunity to see these artists — as well the chapel — in a new light.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a full-color catalogue to be published in the spring of 2021, including new installation images, interviews and contributions by the artists featured in the exhibition.
An opening reception will be held Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. “Artists and the Rothko Chapel: 50 Years of Inspiration” will be on view through May 15, 2021, at the Moody Center, which is free and open to the public.
-30-
This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.
Follow Rice News and Media Relations on Twitter @RiceUNews.
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,978 undergraduates and 3,192 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 1 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.