The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, has announced a group of new acquisitions, both gifts and purchases, across its curatorial departments. The artworks range from a 17th-century wall hanging depicting courtly life in India to recent animatronic sculptures by contemporary artist Anicka Yi.
In statement, MFAH director Gary Tinterow said of this round of acquisitions include “two works that constitute astounding rediscoveries in their respective fields: Ladies of the Court belongs to a series of 17th-century hangings that have been hailed as the most important Indian textile discovery of the century, while Fernand Khnopff’s evocative triptych has reappeared for the first time since 1912. These purchases and gifts have been made possible by the continuing generosity of Houston’s philanthropists and through the perspicacity of our team of curators.”
As well as the Yi sculptures, additions to the MFA’s holdings of contemporary art include works by Hew Locke, Tatsuo Miyajima, Satoru Ozaki, and Raqib Shaw. The museum also acquired three pieces from the early 20th century by pioneering Symbolist artists: the aforementioned trio of drawings by Khnopff, which are set in a frame designed by the artist; a lithograph by Edvard Munch; and a painting by Ferdinand Hodler.
Notable gifts to the museum include a Mary Cassatt pastel and a Peter Bradley painting, as well as works from the collection of the late architect Hugo V. Neuhaus, Jr., among them paintings by postwar abstractionists such as Hans Hoffmann, Helen Frankenthaler, and Morris Louis. The museum also received gifts from Houston collectors Frank and Michelle Hevrdijs, including works by 19th-century artists Jean-Léon Gérôme and Christian Adolf Schreyer.
Below, a look at seven artworks newly acquired by the MFAH.
