In 1983, the foundation listed assets of approximately $30 million in art and real estate. ''I went to breakfast, lunch and dinner at their house and met every important person they knew. [31] The result was a museum that appeared "small on the outside, butas big as possible inside". During an earlier school board election, the de Menils helped launch the political career of Mickey Leland, a young black militant from Houston's grubby Fifth Ward, who is now serving his fourth term in the United States Congress. The Fathers opted for Catholic identity, and after much soul-searching on both sides, the de Menils departed, reacquiring much of the art they had given, trading it for land purchased by them for St. Thomas's expansion. So serious, in fact, was the recent plight of Dia that Dominique asked her son Georges, a trustee of Philippa's inheritance, to help. key biscayne triathlon 2022 When their children were still young, and Schlumberger shares were worth comparatively little, John and Dominique de Menil decided they would put half of their holdings in trust funds for each of their five children. 1538-1576 - Anne de Barbay, fille de Guyot de Barbay et d'Anne de Frenelle. THE COUPLE'S MOST INTENSE Houston involvement was with St. Thomas University, a small Catholic college. Raised in a code of stern Protestant morality, Dominique is quite prepared to give a million to a worthy cause, but not to spend money on such frivolities as taxis, according to Edmund (Ted) Carpenter. Modern Reliquary: In a New Houston Museum, Francois de Menil Crafts an Authentic Setting for Two Byzantine Frescoes., Last edited on 16 December 2022, at 21:42, Houston-based oilfield services corporation. [10] They bought more than two hundred pieces from Klejman's New York Gallery. Philippa and her husband Heiner have made over a former apartment building into a townhouse. (Spookily enough, another dwelling she had built on the same site about 20 years ago met the same end.) Following the outbreak of World War II and the Nazi occupation of France, the de Menils emigrated from Paris to the United States of America. I wanted a wooden one.''. But when the artist arrived, she appeared for a moment only. Someone recommended a Surrealist painter named Max Ernst to decorate a wall of their apartment; disliking his proposal, the newlyweds commissioned from him instead a portrait of Dominique. Thus, the 657,829 shares owned by Georges de Menil and his wife and children, now worth about $20 million, have shrunk in value from the $57 million they were worth at the stock's high. The theoretical thrust of ''The Image of the Black'' reflects Dominique more than John, whose interests were apt to find more direct expression. And when John died in 1973, he left his estate in part to Dominique and in part to the Menil Foundation, set up in 1954 to support ecumenism, education, the arts and minority causes. ''Yet I admire them, and I don't want to belittle their achievements.'' [34] The frescoesa dome with Christ Pantokrator and an apse depicting the Virgin Mary Panayiawere installed in a reliquary-like space interior where they were displayed until March 2012, at which time they were returned to the Church of Cyprus. Her ideas are defended by her son-the-architectural-student. Under a five-year plan negotiated with Rice, the de Menils took with them the art library and many of the staff members they had recruited for St. Thomas. She spoke at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, inaugurating the Passionate Voices series, celebrating the 10th anniversary. Beyond the family, their influence has been substantial, too. Like the other children, he realizes fully that his parents are a difficult act to follow. Adelaide wished that the starkly modern house, designed by the then-Mies-disciple Philip Johnson, could be like everyone else's. Dominique, who was courted by other cities, says that the museum is in Houston because ''I was so encouraged here.'' THE DE MENIL FAMILY: THE MEDICI OF MODERN ART, https://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/18/magazine/the-de-menil-family-the-medici-of-modern-art.html. stephen scherr family; nigel jones philadelphia. ''I'm extreme and I have strong tastes,'' says Christophe, who is also an excellent though unexhibited photographer. [26] It was established as an autonomous organization the next year and began hosting colloquia, beginning with "Traditional Modes of Contemplation and Action," which brought together religious leaders, scholars, and musicians from four continents. Of the siblings, she has also undertaken the most wildly ambitious involvement with the arts, as patron of the financially troubled Dia Foundation, whose aim is to support venturesome artists' projects of a nature or scale that make it difficult to obtain other backing. Most of the land and houses within a six-block radius, quietly assembled by John, are under de Menil ownership. Casey Lesser. Helped by Citizens for Good Schools, a progressive organization supported by de Menil money, Everett won his seat, along with the other three candidates supported by the citizens group. Their actions in Houston focused upon the Civil Rights Movement in particular. Schlumberger, Dominique. Plans to create a museum to house and exhibit John and Dominique de Menil's collection began as early as 1972 when they asked the architect Louis I. Kahn to design a museum campus on Menil Foundation property in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston near the Rothko Chapel. ''It's absolutely crazy what they did,'' says one New York dealer. ''Once the children had the disposal of their own fortunes,'' Dominique says, ''John and I never wanted to interfere.'' One of the first International Style residences in Texas, it generated controversy not only by standing out amongst the mansions of River Oaks but also by pairing Johnson's clean, modernist lines with a bold color palette and eclectic interior design by Charles James. John was more interested in architecture as architecture, and in a sense maybe Christophe and Adelaide are taking his role. When the de Menils acquired the sculpture in 1968, the year the Rev. (To help finance this expensive venture, she sold a number of important paintings last year at Sotheby-Parke Bernet, realizing more than $2 million. Hopps, a well known presence in the field of contemporary art, comes from California and made a reputation early on as director of the esteemed Pasadena Museum of Art. And several years ago, when they were agitating in Albany for legislation on fishing rights. Joining the bravely vanguard Contemporary Arts Association, they made their presence felt, producing a major Van Gogh show and staging exhibitions of work by Max Ernst, Joan Miro and Alexander Calder. ''Each of the children,'' says Adelaide now, ''would have preferred his or her own choice of architects, but after all, it is my mother's museum. The issue was really the kind of institution St. Thomas was to be - would it maintain its Catholic identity or would it become a secular college? John and Dominique de Menil also shared an interest in photography, inviting photographers to come to Houston to document events in the city and exhibit their work. Essays and short texts describe the de Menils' collecting; their patronage of modern architecture; their promotion of film as an art form; their struggles . Fariha de Menil Friedrich discussed the main principles of Sufism, how it can be a friend and a helper in the contemporary puzzle of conflicting visions and religious doctrines and reflected on how her early life in Houston influenced her spiritual search. Kahn did produce some preliminary drawings, but the project was suspended in 1973 after John de Menil's and Kahn's deaths less than a year apart. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The bulk of the vast collection - reportedly worth between $150 milllion and $175 million - will be kept on the second floor in open storage, visible to anyone who wants to see it. Early in 1969, the de Menils transferred their patronage from St. Thomas to Rice University, a secular, science-oriented school then beginning to branch out into the liberal arts. In 1960 they launched the ambitious scholarly research project "The Image of the Black in Western Art," directed by art historian Ladislas Bugner. [11] Influenced by the teachings of Father Couturier and Father Congar, the de Menils developed a particular humanist ethos in which they understood art as a central part of the human experience. You can look up the words in the phrase individually using these links: philippa? It will house the more than 10,000 objects acquired by the couple. Ever since, Dia's mission has been to commission, support, and present site-specific long-term installations and single-artists exhibitions to the public. Coordinated by civil rights activist and later U.S. Meanwhile, grandiosity and the Schlumberger stock slide have caused the serious foundering of the Dia Foundation, established by Philippa and Heiner Friedrich, to support the ambitious projects of several hand-picked artists. The black under-taker who attended him provided a plain, rope-handled pine coffin, which was transported by Volkswagen van to the de Menils' parish church. De Menil, who lived in Houston until she was 12 and was raised Catholic, has been a practicing Muslim for more than 30 years, and is now known as Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi, having been officially . For the marriage, Dominique converted to John's Catholicism, a move that at first shocked her clannish family. After a substantial inheritance from their Schlumberger grandmother, nothing more would be forthcoming, the children were given to understand. ''Each branch of the Schlumberger clan has a wing,'' Christophe explains. John's assertiveness made itself felt even as he lay dying of cancer, when he prepared a scenario for his funeral. she asked, in genuine surprise. But I think it will turn out superbly.''. she subsidized a lobbying effort on their behalf. ''Dominque said, 'I'll take it,' and she bundled herself in a tacky fur coat and went trudging through the rain, arriving at Levi-Strauss's looking like a drowned rat. She is not a ''go-getter,'' she insists in her French-tinged English. Naturally, the artists involved - two of whom, Robert Whitman and La Monte Young, lost elaborate performance and living quarters - were hugely disappointed. An 11th-century abbey revamped during the 18th century, the chateau has perhaps 100 rooms. [1], John and Dominique de Menil began collecting art intensively in the 1940s, beginning with a purchase of Paul Czanne's 1895 painting Montagne (Mountain) in 1945. The artists previously collaborated with the Dia Art Foundation, which was founded by Philippa de Menil (Dominique and John's daughter), to realise their monumental immersive light installation. John listened patiently to the telephone tirade and then said, ''Listen, my friend, why don't you come to my house for a drink? Designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, co-creator of the high-tech Pompidou Center in Paris, the museum is so favorably looked upon by Houston bigwigs that more than half of its building costs are being met by local money. ''Wasn't I there?'' '', See the article in its original context from. Each is not only glamorously housed in Manhattan, most of them on the Upper East Side, but also has one or two lavish residences elsewhere -Paris, Texas, the Hamptons. The city's negativism toward the piece, however, served as a goad to the active de Menil political conscience, according to Fred Hofheinz, a young white liberal who was elected Mayor of the volatile city in 1973 with heavy de Menil backing. While the city council hemmed and hawed over acceptance of the gift, Newman himself suggested that it be placed at its present site. The project, not universally appreciated by black scholars who tend to feel the emphasis should be placed on what blacks themselves have created, has so far published two books on the subject. Dominique de Menil, the daughter of Conrad Schlumberger and his wife, Louise Delpech, was born in Paris on March 23, 1908. Website http://www.diaart.org Industries. On the other hand, she can be imperious. ''Dominique and John were entirely separate people who worked not so much together but in parallel ways,'' suggests Fred Hofheinz. [1] She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986. And I loathed the black-tiled floor. ''Ted really started it - he saved an old house that was going to be demolished, and so we bought the land,'' she says. Dominique de Menil appears regularly in Forbes magazine's annual listing of the 400 richest people in America, with an estimated worth of ''at least'' $200 million in Schlumberger stock and art alone. by Paula Newton November 11, 2013. by Paula Newton November 11, 2013. She spoke at the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, inaugurating the Passionate Voices series, celebrating the 10th anniversary. Few philanthropists of the 20th century contributed more to the American art world than Dominique and John de Menil. [8][9] De Menil credited dealer and adviser John Klejman with shaping their tastes in African and Oceanic objects, saying that he "made buying African art very tempting". 1974 by art dealer Heiner Friedrich and his wife, art patron Philippa de Menil. What they do should be balanced against what's possible.''. In 1974, Fr ''I'm really too busy to see you today,'' she announced, and vanished. An informal art historian and teacher, Dominique has also organized some remarkable exhibitions, innovatively installed. v t e Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi (born Philippa de Menil; 13 June 1947) is the spiritual guide and current Sheikha of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in New York City. Dominique, who earned a degree in mathematics at the University of Paris, was the product of a cultivated family that had, in the late 19th century, built a textile fortune. Dia was founded in New York City in 1974 by Philippa de Menil, Heiner Friedrich, and Helen Winkler to help artists achieve visionary projects that might not otherwise be realized because of scale or scope. ''At Marseilles, Mother wrapped us in our loden coats to conceal our spots, so the authorities wouldn't detain us.'' ''It gives us a strong family feeling.''. Philippa de Menil (now Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi) ominously reflected on the passing of her spiritual guide saying, "His death seemed to herald many new changes." [5] The new board began slashing at Dia contracts and real estate to get the budget under control with projects being dropped and dismantled at a fast rate. Raised a Protestant, Dominique converted to Roman Catholicism in 1932. The idea was born, Dominique says, out of her ''shock'' at discovering segregation ''when I arrived in the United States, and wondering why, when great artists have seen blacks as beautiful, dignified, noble, they were not considered so here.''. [1] She also published articles on film technology in the French journal La revue du cinma.[4]. ''We even borrowed money to buy art. The Barnett Newman ''Broken Obelisk,'' made of Cor-Ten steel, stands 26 feet high in a reflecting pool that faces the chapel's entrance. She badly needed a religion.''. He later realized who had delivered the manuscript and wrote her a note.'' In fact, she is referred to by her oldest son, Georges, as ''the Reverend Mother Superior.'' It is named for the late Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko, whom the de Menils commissioned to do 14 dark, meditative paintings that are the only adornment of the octagonal building. Guided by her longtime companion, the anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, she has acquired a formidable collection of objects from tribal cultures - Peruvian feather hangings, Polynesian sculptures, Eskimo carvings, masks by Northwest Coast Indians. The conflict, as is the case with most de Menil disagreements, actually reveals the strength of the family's ties, according to Ted Carpenter: ''It's like an Italian family arguing over the pasta. WHERE THE DE MENIL MONEY COMES FROM. They were the first Americans to influence Europeans. Both pupils received new Sufi names. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Dominique, who from childhood had an impulse toward collecting, acquiring such objects as ''shells, cut-out images, exotic seeds,'' attributes her interest in art -late-blooming as it was - to her mother, who would have collected, save for her husband's disapproval. The big, Orientally carpeted chambers, including a prayer room, are accented by Dan Flavin's sculptures of fluorescent light, among other works, and on one wall hangs a portrait of the Friedrichs' late Sufi guru, Sheik Muzaffer Ozak. Film technology in the phrase individually using these links: philippa individually using these:. And in a sense maybe Christophe and adelaide are taking his role against... Wished that the museum is in Houston because `` I was so encouraged.! Quietly assembled by John, are under de Menil I 'm really too busy See... By other cities, says that the starkly modern house, designed by the then-Mies-disciple Philip Johnson, be! 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