Art Appreciation Museum Project, HCCS Stafford

Instructor-Gwen Plunkett

THE MENIL COLLECTION

1515 Sul Ross

713-525-9400

713-525-9401

Hours: Wednesday –Sunday, 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

For map, go to web site and click on Visitor Information. First page gives a map to the museum, the second page gives a map of the museum and grounds.

Exhibitions Required:

The Surreal Calder

Convulsive Beauty: Selections from the Menil Collection

Robert Gober: The Meat Wagon

Twentieth Century

Surrealism

Antiquities

Part I

The first set of questions is related to information found on the web site.

1. In what year was the Menil Museum built and whose collection does it house?

2. How many works are in the present collection?

3. What is the name of the architect who designed the main building of the museum?

4. Besides the main museum building, there are four others on these grounds. What are they?

Part II

The next set of questions is related to the work in The Surreal Calder Exhibition.

5. List the names of all the artists whose works are on display in the first room of this exhibit.

6. How many works are on display by Alexander Calder in this exhibit?

7. Describe the work by Max Ernst titled Painting for Young People. Included in your description should be information regarding color, line, shape, texture and subject matter. The answer should be a short paragraph.

8. This exhibit has several drawings by Alexander Calder. What is the medium he used in the drawings?

9. Describe the how Calder used line in the drawings.

10. Are the drawings illusionistic regarding space?

11. Are they non-objective or abstract? How do they relate to the sculpture?

12. Describe Calder’s sculpture Tight Rope.

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Part III

The next set of questions addresses works in the Convulsive Beauty exhibition.

13. How many works are in this exhibit?

14. Find the work by Marcel Duchamp titled L.H.O.O.Q.. Describe this work.

15. What are the titles of the works by Duchamp in your book?

16. How many artists whose works are in this exhibit are still alive? Name them.

17. It is suggested that the works in this exhibit deal with the body in some way? Pick three of the works in the exhibit and describe how they make the reference. Include the artist’s name and title of each work. Be specific.

The next set of questions address the Antiquities exhibit.

18. Find the Mummy Portraits and Funerary Mask. What is the medium used for the Mummy Portraits? List the titles and dates and origin.

19. Locate the following two wooden sculptures: Virgin and Child and the large wooden Egyptian Male Figure. Compare and contrast the two works in relation to movement, balance, cultural convention, proportion and scale. What are the dates of each one? Look in your book for images that are from the same regions and dates for more information.

20. Find the painting on wooden panel Entry into Jerusalem in the Byzantine section of the Antiquities exhibit. Discuss the depiction of space in the work. Is it illusionistic or conceptual? What devices did the artist use to create the illusion of deep space? Is western linear perspective used? Are the figures in correct proportion and scale to each other and if not, why? What devices did the artist to help you understand the story?

21. What is the oldest dated work in the Antiquities section? (Hint: you may find this answer on the web site) But you must describe it.

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The next set of questions relates to the Robert Gober: The Meat Wagon Exhibit. Look at all the rooms and works in this exhibit before you answer the questions.

22. There are things placed around the rooms in this exhibit that look like just incidental stuff that we don’t generally associate with art. List these things by title and medium. Who is the artist of these works?

23. On one wall there is a series of 12 drawings. Who was the artist and for whom were these drawings done and for what reason? What is the medium?

24. In the center floor of the back room of this exhibit there is an artwork that makes noise. Identify the work and describe it.

The next set of questions relates to the Twentieth Century Exhibition.

25. How many paintings by Picasso in this section of the museum. List them by title and medium.

26. Find the large gray painting Voice by Jasper Johns. What is the medium?

27. How many lines do you see in the painting and how are they made?

28. What does Andy Warhol’s Double Mona Lisa have in common with Marcel Duchamp’s L.H.O.O.Q.?

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The next set of questions relates to the Surreal Exhibit.

29. Find and identify at least two works in this exhibit made with the technique of frottage/rubbing?

30. Look carefully at all the paintings in this exhibit by Rene Magritte and Max Ernst. Describe the differences and similarities of their techniques in describing texture.

31. Find the works of Joseph Cornell. In the first box on the left, what is in the middle glass?

32. Find the painting La Trahison des images (The Treachery of Images) 1952. What color is used in the background? What color is used for the text on the painting?

Were you surprised at the size of this painting?

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32. Have your photograph taken somewhere on the grounds of the Menil complex near one of the signs or sculptures. Attach a photocopy of it to your project when you turn it in.

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The following question is a bonus question worth three points per correct answer. You must find and identify the work and describe it.

34. There are art works by Robert Gober located in other parts of the museum besides in the Meat Wagon section. Find, identify and describe them and their location for extra points each.

Other extra credit points can be earned by visiting the other parts of the museum complex that you listed above in question number four. Five extra credit points can be earned for each of the four you visit and describe. You must identify the name of the exhibit, the artist’s work it houses, and then give a personal description and opinion of the works there. If you do all four and do them well enough, that gives you 20 extra credit points.