Magritte: Beyond the Image, Beneath the Paint
VIEW EVENT DETAILSMagritte expert Sarah Whitfield leads off an interdisciplinary group of conservators, curators, scientists, and engineers as they examine the work of artist René Magritte, venturing beyond the pictorial images in his paintings.
This daylong symposium begins with several concise lectures exploring Magritte’s reputation, connections between the artist and the Menil, and—in recognition of Asia Society Texas Center—Magritte in Japan. Three focused sessions follow, punctuated by short discussions encompassing Magritte’s methods, techniques, and several exciting new conservation discoveries revealed through x-radiography and other scientific methods.
About Sarah Whitfield
Sarah Whitfield, a London-based independent art historian, writer, and curator, is co-author of the Magritte catalogue raisonné and editor of René Magritte: Newly Discovered Works. She was the curator of the 1992 Magritte retrospective and author of its catalogue.
About The Menil Collection
The Menil Collection, an art museum with a collection of approximately 17,000 objects, is dedicated to the presentation, preservation, interpretation, and growth of its holdings. The Menil Collection, John and Dominique de Menil’s remarkable legacy to Houston and to the world, opened to the public in June 1987 to house, exhibit, and preserve the private art collection of the de Menils. Assembled over the course of many decades by the Houston philanthropists, the Collection is recognized not only for its quality and depth but also for its distinctive presentation and eclecticism. The Menil Collection’s diverse holdings represent many world cultures and thousands of years of human creativity, from prehistoric times to the present. The primary areas of the permanent collection are antiquities, Byzantine and medieval art, the tribal cultures of Africa,Oceania, and the American Pacific Northwest, and the twentieth century. The Menil Collection was founded with the imperative of free admission.
In collaboration with The Menil Collection. Asia Society Texas Center is funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance.