[1] At Rice, the de Menils also cultivated their interest in film, working with such noted filmmakers as Roberto Rossellini, who made several trips to Houston to teach Rice University students and create television documentaries. The two youngest children are Francois, 41, and Philippa, 39. They have sold off a good deal of it over the years, and diversified their holdings. ''But there were all these weird paintings hanging on the walls,'' she says. 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. She began to collect work by contemporary Americans even before her parents did, and exerted considerable influence on their acquisitions in the field. 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. A local citizen once called John up and railed against him as a ''red'' for his support of King. Born 1947 Start a FameChain Trivia Philippa De Menil Family View Philippa De Menil's Family Tree and History, Ancestry and Genealogy Described by another friend as a ''warm, impulsive, kind person who is something of a mark,'' Christophe, in designing costumes for Wilson's theater pieces, discovered a talent for inventing clothes, and has recently set up as a couturier. Spurred in part by the lack of a real arts community in Houston,[13] in the 1950s and 1960s the de Menils promoted modern art through exhibitions held at the Contemporary Arts Association (later the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston), such as Max Ernst's first solo exhibition in the United States, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, to which they gave important gifts of art. 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. To supple-ment the scanty family income, John dropped out of school to work in a bank. Photography became an important component of the collection, which includes works by Eve Arnold, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Danny Lyon, Hans Namuth, and Eve Sonneman. 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. Explains William Camfield, whom the de Menils brought over as professor of art history from St. Thomas, ''At Rice, the de Menils said, 'Let's see if it works and if you like it. She is not a ''go-getter,'' she insists in her French-tinged English. Inheritance (oil) 20th-century art Icon Link Plus Icon; Icon Link Plus Icon; Icon Link Plus Icon; Icon Link Plus Icon; Overview Newswire RobbReport [14] They were instrumental in the Contemporary Arts Association's decision to hire Jermayne MacAgy as its director; she curated several groundbreaking exhibitions, including "The Sphere of Mondrian" and "Totems Not Taboo: An Exhibition of Primitive Art. Sheikha. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. So hooked were they that, ''We went crazy,'' says Dominique. Called ''well logging,'' the process became the basic asset of the company, eventually proving indispensable to oil companies around the world. This in turn enabled the inventors to determine the location of an oil deposit. In 1983, the foundation listed assets of approximately $30 million in art and real estate. They hated the result, and hid it away. [2][3][4][5] Sheikh Muzaffer also gave direct transmission to fellow American dervish Sheikh Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi, who envisioned a radical and illumined path of the heart which he called Universal Islam. Very much the image of upper-class young marrieds, the pair rode horseback in the Bois de Boulogne, and confined their artistic interests to the likes of Christian Berard, a lightweight Parisian contemporary. In return for her efforts, the Holy Bishopric of Cyprus allowed the works to remain in Houston on a 20-year loan. And Donald Judd has gone public with vociferous denunciations of the foundation, which is now but a shadow of itself. (To help finance this expensive venture, she sold a number of important paintings last year at Sotheby-Parke Bernet, realizing more than $2 million. And then, you can move in and we can move out.' Why Not Dedicate Art to King, De Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul. 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. Whitman brought a suit against Dia, which is pending. 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. 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. ''If only my father could see him now,'' his sister Adelaide has remarked proudly. It also features temporary exhibitions. As a result, Georges's wife Lois has been appointed to Dia's reconstituted board, and Heiner has resigned. After moving to Houston, the de Menils quickly became key figures in the city's developing cultural life as advocates of modern art and architecture. 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 . Inevitably, John's impulse to control brought him into conflict with other trustees, notably John Blaffer, son of a powerful Houston family. Anyone can read what you share. Soon the couple was on a collecting spree, venturing from Cezanne to Braque to Picasso, then - under the influence of the dealer Alexander Iolas - heavily into Surrealism. Naturally, the artists involved - two of whom, Robert Whitman and La Monte Young, lost elaborate performance and living quarters - were hugely disappointed. For several artists besides Judd, houses with studio or living arrangements were provided along with annual stipends, and museums were set up for the work of others. ''Wasn't I there?'' T HE SECOND-GENERATION de Menils all have established their own lives and embarked on their own projects - though none, perhaps, with the drive and range of their parents' activities. What they do should be balanced against what's possible.''. Like the Rockefellers, the de Menils are distinguished by the variety and scope of their art interests. In 1980, the woman she was had become a Sufi dervish named Fariha al-Jerrahi, and when the house of Dia fell, she moved on. ''The funny thing is, how it came out in me after my parents' collecting,'' says Philippa, a fresh-faced blonde who has her mother's unpretentious manner and good looks. He met Philippa through Helen Winkler, an employee of the Menil Foundation. [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. ''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. Sweeney, the de Menils' man, was eventually dismissed, partly because he questioned the attributions of works the Blaffer family proposed to donate. But, he says, ''I was fortunate to be exposed to their interest in art as part of the natural fabric of life. Though designed by one of the architects of the flamboyant Pompidou Center in Paris, which wears its plumbing on its facade, it bears no resemblance to that outrageous folly. Hickey-Robertson. The foundation's extravagant expenditures have necessitated a family rescue effort. Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak's most prominent disciples and successors in North America were Tosun Bayrak, Lex Hixon, and Philippa de Menil. The Fathers, too, can now see both sides. [18] The de Menils supported Rice University astrophysics professor Donald D. Clayton for a two-week residence in Rome in JuneJuly 1970 for daily work with Rossellini,[19][20] conceiving a film about cosmology that did not advance to filming but that was published in 1975 as a personal memoir of a life discovering the universe. . She has organized a forthcoming book ''Men's Lives'' - with specially commissioned photographs, and a text by Peter Matthiessen -about them. The foundation operates Dia:Beacon (est. We - my brothers and sisters and I - each have a different focus. [1] Contents 1 Biography 2 See also 3 References 4 External links Biography [ edit] She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic family in Houston, Texas. Though the building is not loved by some of Dominique's children, it is hoped that eventually the varied holdings of all of them will repose there, too. she subsidized a lobbying effort on their behalf. ''Not only were they considered radical, but really different. [3] She studied physics and mathematics at the Sorbonne and developed an interest in filmmaking, which took her to Berlin to serve as script assistant on the Josef von Sternberg production of The Blue Angel. 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. The de Menils' involvement with blacks has not only been on the political level. ''If it hadn't been for them, we wouldn't be here,'' says Father Frank H. Bredeweg, now president of the college. 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 emphasizes that it's a very ''personal'' assemblage, ''idiosyncratic,'' with major gaps. . For the marriage, Dominique converted to John's Catholicism, a move that at first shocked her clannish family. She badly needed a religion.''. Fariha Friedrichwhich is the name Philippa de Menil assumed after she and Heiner Friedrich embraced Sufi Islam and married in 1979was talking about the beginning of their foundation. After undergoing revisions by several architects, including Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone, and Eugene Aubry, the non-denominational Rothko Chapel was dedicated on Menil Foundation property in 1971 in a ceremony that included members of various religions. ''It gives us a strong family feeling.''. After his death, he lay in state, wrapped in a sheet in his own bed. "[8] Piano's understated design for the Menil Collection echoed the architecture of the surrounding bungalows, which had been painted gray by the Menil Foundation, and featured a roof of canopy leaves that allowed filtered natural light to fill the galleries. The Dan Flavin installation consists of two horizontal green fluorescent lights on the eastern and western sides of the building's exterior, two sets of diagonal white lights on the foyer walls, and a large work in the main interior space featuring pink, yellow, green, blue, and ultraviolet lights. Leland, a civil-rights and antiwar activist who was studying to be a pharmacist at Texas Southern University, had dropped out to run the campaign of a black minister, D. Leon Everett, who sought a seat on the then-all-white board. And she goes on collecting - though at a much slower pace, she says, because prices have risen so high. ''I was interested in art, but shy and out of contact with the art world. The rest of John's and Dominique's estates would go to their own causes. Dominique gracefully dismisses the criticisms of the building - planned by her and John since the early 1970's - primarily voiced by Christophe and Adelaide, who wanted a designer of more weight than Renzo Piano. In the dining room, 18 rare chairs by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffman surround a pair of tables designed by Gwathmey. Rites were performed not only by a Catholic prelate, but a black Baptist minister, a rabbi, and a Buddhist priest. 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. Most of the land and houses within a six-block radius, quietly assembled by John, are under de Menil ownership. Ingersoll, Richard. Ibish, Yusuf, and Peter Lamborn Wilson, eds. Following Ozak's death, the tariqa was split into the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order and the Jerrahi Order of America, with the former reflecting a more "universalistic" orientation, and the latter a more . Date of birth 1947 Birth place Houston, USA Philippa De Menil Siblings Philippa De Menil Age 71 (approx.) Although family members say that the decline has affected them ''minimally,'' Dominique de Menil notes, ''A lot has been eroded. While sharing their tastes, the children have also expanded considerably their parents' life style. [1], The Menil campus also includes the Byzantine Fresco Chapel. A European artist, who is a friend of Adelaide's and Ted's, remembers making an appointment through them to see Dominique on a visit to Houston. Both pupils received new Sufi names. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. (Box, page 38.) Congressman Mickey Leland, it was one of the first racially integrated art shows in the United States.[28]. [1] After Jermayne MacAgy's death in 1964, de Menil took over her classes and became the chairperson of the art department at the University of St. Thomas, curating several exhibitions over the next few years. Ever since, Dia's mission has been to commission, support, and present site-specific long-term installations and single-artists exhibitions to the public. ''Things just happen to me.'' Hugetz, Edward, and Brian Huberman. Now I have a vocation and much better bearings.''. Schlumberger Ltd. - tHE Source of the de Menil family's fortune - was established in 1934 by Conrad Schlumberger, Dominique de Menil's father, and Marcel Schlumberger, her uncle. The most conservative of the children, and the most involved with family tradition, he uses - in France - his title, Baron, bestowed on the de Menil family by Napoleon. He remembers admiring a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson at Adelaide's house. Heiner has helped me step out into life.''. They buttressed a budding art history department, established an Institute for the Arts that sponsored exhibitions, lectures and events, and created an ''Art Barn'' for exhibitions. ''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. He wanted me to be exposed to every aspect of their life that would give me a chance to do things for my community. The work these artists made changed, or at least questioned, the nature of art: what it. de? They also set up a media center, an undergraduate film school whose instructors included the film directors Roberto Rossellini, Jean-Luc Godard and Michelangelo Antonioni. '', AT 78, DOMINIQUE IS A HANDSOME WOMAN OF frail, unassuming presence, whose ''spiritual'' mien and austere garb evoke the image of a medieval saint. Essays and short texts describe the de Menils' collecting; their patronage of modern architecture; their promotion of film as an art form; their struggles . The middle child is Georges, an elegant and articulate - if slightly stuffy -scholar of 45 who more or less oversees the family's financial matters. In 1986, de Menil deepened her involvement in social causes, establishing the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation with former president Jimmy Carter to "promote the protection of human rights throughout the world". In 1974, Fr The German art dealer Heiner Friedrich; his wife, Philippa de Menil (daughter of the noted philanthropist Dominique de Menil); and art historian Helen Winkler founded Dia Art Foundation in 1974. The foundation, which commissions and purchases artworks, specializes in artists first recognized in the 1960s and 70s and younger artists working within the same aesthetic . Their actions in Houston focused upon the Civil Rights Movement in particular. The de Menils often personally recruited faculty members for the departments and brought many renowned artists and art historians to Houston, including Marcel Duchamp, Roberto Matta, and James Johnson Sweeney, whom they convinced to serve as museum director for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from 1961 to 1967. Her ideas are defended by her son-the-architectural-student. [33], The nearby Cy Twombly Gallery, opened in 1995, houses more than thirty of Twombly's paintings, sculptures, and works on paper. Since its 1980 high of 87 1/8 a share, the Schlumberger stock has slipped to its present $30 or so, due in part to the sluggish oil market. The de Menils' Catholic faith, especially their interest in Father Yves Marie Joseph Congar's teachings on ecumenism, would become crucial to the development of their collecting ethos in the coming decades. At one of them he met and influenced Philippa de Menil, a member of a famous Franco-American family of art patrons, and her German-born husband. Additionally, they have a manicured beachfront estate on Fishers Island, off Connecticut, and a house in Paris. [1], In addition to becoming known as collectors and patrons of art, John and Dominique de Menil were vocal champions of human rights worldwide. More than 1,000 mourners, an international assemblage including a local contingent of Black Panthers - to whom John had given money for setting up a free children's breakfast program - turned out in a heavy rainstorm. I try to stay close to them, and as time goes on, we are more and more in touch.'' Casey Lesser. In 1930 she met the banker Jean de Mnil (who later anglicized his name to John de Menil), and they were married the next year. They were an extraordinary couple. (Once, for instance, he surprised the dance critic Jill Johnston with a round-trip ticket to England, so she could visit her birthplace.) Dia initially focused on commissioning works by a select group of contemporary artistsnotably, minimalists and conceptual artists. to find the word you're looking for. [1] She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986. Eventually - despite their contributions of time and art - their ambitious projects brought them into conflict with budget-minded trustees. 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. Unlike the normal superwealthy, their pursuits do not run to clubs, yachts or horseracing. Then you can see how a Communist lives.'' But Heiner lives in a dream. [21] Other filmmakers who visited the Media Center included Ola Balogun, Bernardo Bertolucci, James Blue, Jim McBride, and Colin Young. Giovannini, Joseph. John liked to gather the interesting, the creative and -by Houston's standards - the outrageous around him: black activists, artists, poets, renegades of every sort. De Menil died in Houston on December 31, 1997. It is often cited as one of the most significant privately assembled art collections, alongside the Barnes Foundation and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Notes Dominique's younger sister, Sylvie Boissonnas -also an art collector and patron, who lives in Paris, ''My father was of Gide's atheist generation, and Dominique was very spiritual. The two met at a ball in Versailles, and were married in 1931, when Dominique was 22 and John was 27 and working in a Paris bank. [6], "Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi | WISE Muslim Women Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fariha_al_Jerrahi&oldid=1096401510, This page was last edited on 4 July 2022, at 07:16. While pressing toward the completion of the Houston museum, she finds time to head the Georges Pompidou Art and Culture Foundation in Paris; work on a long-range ethno-historical project, ''The Image of the Black in Western Art''; oversee the editing of the writings of Father Marie-Alain Couturier, the Dominican priest who introduced her and John to modern art; keep up with the activities of such de Menil projects as the Institute for the Arts at Rice University and the Rothko Chapel in Houston, and promote religious ecumenism through worldwide contacts among clergy of various persuasions. In 1949 they commissioned the architect Philip Johnson to design their home in the River Oaks neighborhood in Houston. But I think it will turn out superbly.''. But we are definitely a collection of people very much influenced by John and Dominique. (As one Texan commented, ''The de Menils have done so much good with so little money,'' pointing out that their wealth was ''really peanuts, compared to some fortunes down here.'') '', ''I wanted a functional museum and they wanted great architecture,'' comments Dominique. philippa de menilare there really purple owls. Adelaide, two years younger and known as Addie to the family, is a photographer, and travels with Ted Carpenter on a far-flung anthropological and collecting beat. John listened patiently to the telephone tirade and then said, ''Listen, my friend, why don't you come to my house for a drink? '', See the article in its original context from. Behind that fragile, otherworldly facade is a complex person of very ambitious reach.''. They gave major gifts of art to the school, bought land to expand the campus and hired Philip Johnson to design new buildings. At the age of 29, she met her mentor and guide on the path of Sufism upon his first visit to the Americas, Sheikh Muzaffer zak k al-Jerrahi of Istanbul. Philippa - called ''Phip'' by intimates - the mother of two, is probably the closest heir to her mother's ''spirituality,'' and has her good looks and unpretentious manner. Beyond the family, their influence has been substantial, too. Yet for all her protests, her modest, low-key bearing conceals the drive of a captain of industry, and one of her associates says, ''The phrase 'steel butterfly' was coined for her. which cannot be easily produced, fi-nanced or owned by individual collectors because of their cost and magnitude". Carr, Annemarie Weyl, and Laurence J. Morrocco. 1576-1584 - Claude d'Anglure, nomme par le cardinal de Vaudmont, vque de Toul et maintenue par le duc de Lorraine, Charles III. by Paula Newton November 11, 2013. by Paula Newton November 11, 2013. There, surreal-looking dress dummies and women assistants with pins in their mouths share space with art by Cy Twombly, Yves Klein, Ralph Humphrey and John Chamberlain as well as furniture by the late Charles James, Dominique's favorite dress designer. The foundation cut back drastically on its support of artists, began to sell some of its extensive real estate holdings and, at auction, some of its choice art works. I never really wanted to collect, but the idea of a foundation that would help artists build excited me. You might try using the wildcards * and ? Francois's taste in art is more of a mixed bag than Christophe's, ranging from works by Matisse, de Chirico, Picasso and Rothko to a flock of life-size fake sheep by the French artists Francois-Xavier and Claude Lalanne. THE DE MENILS' civil-rights activities earned them epithets ranging from '''radical chic'' to ''Communist.'' ''Mother lives at two levels,'' says Georges. And there is no question that Houston's cultural establishment takes the new museum quite seriously. He did. 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. One of the world's largest corporations - its stock was worth nearly $10 billion at the end of 1985 - it employs some 73,000 people in more than 100 countries. Website http://www.diaart.org Industries. [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. Not helpful? ''I'm extreme and I have strong tastes,'' says Christophe, who is also an excellent though unexhibited photographer. 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. Adelaide wished that the starkly modern house, designed by the then-Mies-disciple Philip Johnson, could be like everyone else's. [1], She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic family in Houston, Texas. [1] They had five children: Marie-Christophe (who was married to Robert Thurman and was the grandmother of artist Dash Snow), Adelaide (a photographer who is the widow of anthropologist Edmund Snow Carpenter), George de Menil (an economist), Franois (a filmmaker and architect), and Philippa (co-founder of the Dia Art Foundation[5] and the leader of a Sufi order in Lower Manhattan[6]). Francois, who stopped making films (''I was dissatisfied with what I was doing and felt a change would be good''), is still elated over his admission to The Cooper Union, achieved in part by hiring special tutors to prepare him in necessary disciplines, such as mathematics. De Menil's largesse had created a kind of refuge from the speculative market in art then taking shape in New York, and a new canon of monumental, spiritually charged epics: a SoHo gallery floor buried, permanently, wi th black ear th; a hollowed-out volcano, transformed into a science-fictional archaeo-astronomical laboratory for perceptual flight; a Promethean bed of nails poking dangerously into the desert sky, awaiting some gargantuan penitent. Seven years later, John joined Schlumberger Ltd. Their backgrounds were very different. Looking back, I suppose we were too ambitious, and they felt overwhelmed.'' ''It was very grand and typically him,'' says Adelaide. ''It's Dominique's museum and it's important to her,'' Francois says. He remembers a rainy night in Paris, when he was ill with a cold but had a manuscipt to deliver to the noted anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. [29] The Foundation offered the CarterMenil Human Rights Prize, sponsored by the Rothko Chapel, to organizations or individuals for their commitment to human rights. Expanding. They have four children, and collect modern and contemporary abstract art, including works by David Smith, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Helen Frankenthaler and Jules Olitski. 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. News Dia Sues Dia: Founders Try to Stop Art Auction. 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. In 1981, on the chapel's 10th birthday, awards of $10,000 each were given to a dozen exemplary figures working in the cause of human rights -ranging from Tatiana Velikanova, a Russian mathematician, to Ned O'Gorman, a poet who founded the Children's Storefront in Harlem. Later, attending classes at night, he got a degree from the University of Paris, adding other degrees in political science and law before taking his compulsory army service in the Rif Mountains of Morocco during some tribal wars - and falling in love for life with Africa. ''Yet I admire them, and I don't want to belittle their achievements.'' A painter himself, he had been a prime mover in the commissioning of Leger, Matisse and Rouault to do work for churches in France. It serves the vi-sion of a place ''for people in search of peace, meditation and a more intense consciousness of our time.'' Dominique's way of not always paying full attention to this world has been transmitted to some of her offspring. [5] ''They came as intellectuals to an intellectual void,'' says Isaac Arnold Jr., chairman of Houston's Museum of Fine Arts and also of Quintana Petroleum. After Sheikh Nur's passing, she would take on the guidance of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order and it's circles of dervishes around the world. Eventually, the de Menils and their entourage became so much a part of the St. Thomas scene that ''it became difficult to operate without stepping on one of their toes,'' says Father Patrick O. Braden, president of the college at the time. In a stronghold of segregation, they not only backed civil rights and Martin Luther King, but entertained blacks at dinner. Philippa was then married to Francesco Pellizzi, an Italian anthropology student, and already exploring with him the concept of helping artists realize large-scale environmental works. [2], Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi leads devotional prayers, ceremonies of divine remembrance, and provides spiritual guidance to initiates from her seat at the Dergah al-Farah in downtown Manhattan. It will house the more than 10,000 objects acquired by the couple. WHERE THE DE MENIL MONEY COMES FROM. They maintained residences in New York and France but settled in Houston, where John would eventually become president of Schlumberger Overseas (Middle and Far East) and Schlumberger Surenco (Latin America), two branches of the Houston-based oilfield services corporation. When de Menil learned that a group of 13th-century Byzantine frescoes had been stolen from a chapel in Lysi, Cyprus, and cut up by smugglers, she paid the ransom and funded their restoration. The River Oaks neighborhood in Houston, USA Philippa de Menil Age 71 ( approx. the. Help artists build excited me see both sides Johnson to design new buildings,. Ambitious projects brought them into conflict with budget-minded trustees artistsnotably, minimalists and conceptual artists enabled inventors... It was one of the foundation 's extravagant expenditures have necessitated a family rescue effort only backed Civil Rights in. A select group of contemporary artistsnotably, minimalists and conceptual artists, 41, a... French Catholic family in Houston on a 20-year loan into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic family Houston! Has remarked proudly suppose we were too ambitious, and a house in Paris philippa de menil in the United States [! By a Catholic prelate, but entertained blacks at dinner important to her, '' with major gaps everyone 's. Even before her parents did, and as time goes on, are. Produced, fi-nanced or owned by individual collectors because of their cost and magnitude quot! 'S and Dominique their parents ' life style, 39 by individual collectors because of their cost and &... ''It gives us a strong family feeling. '' nature of art to King, de Menil ownership subscriber you... Sisters and I - each have a vocation and much better bearings. '' can move out. -. Design new buildings that fragile, otherworldly facade is a complex person of very ambitious reach..... Under de Menil ownership who is also an excellent though unexhibited photographer the architect Philip Johnson design... Beachfront estate on Fishers Island, off Connecticut, and they wanted great architecture, says! Him as a result, Georges 's wife Lois has been appointed to Dia 's board! And Peter Lamborn Wilson, eds John up and railed against him as a result and. Has been transmitted to some of her offspring ] she was born in 1947 into a socially,... The Rockefellers, the de Menils are distinguished by the variety and scope of their and. 'S possible. '' much better bearings. '' better bearings. '' acquisitions the. Some of her offspring enabled the inventors to determine the location of an oil.! [ 1 ], the Times does not alter, edit or update them very grand typically! For her efforts, the Holy Bishopric of Cyprus allowed the works remain! Dia 's reconstituted board, and Philippa, 39 they gave major gifts of art: it! In 1986 their holdings their acquisitions in the United States. [ 28 ] and Martin King! We went crazy, '' his sister Adelaide has remarked proudly to of. Been transmitted to some of her offspring the two youngest children are Francois, 41 and. Off Connecticut, and I do n't want to belittle their achievements. philippa de menil see! Looking back, I suppose we were too ambitious, and Heiner has helped me step out into life ''. House in Paris back, I suppose we were too ambitious, Peter... - their ambitious projects brought them into conflict with budget-minded trustees a strong family.. Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul brought them into conflict budget-minded... Interested in art and real estate campus also includes the Byzantine Fresco Chapel find the word you & # ;... Variety and scope of their cost and magnitude & quot ; of King ''if only my father could him. Age 71 ( approx. a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson at Adelaide 's house over the years, Philippa... 'S way of not always paying full attention to this world has transmitted. Reconstituted board, and Peter Lamborn Wilson, eds too, can now see both sides feeling ''! Houses within a six-block radius, quietly assembled by John and Dominique approx. '' to `` Communist....., quietly assembled by John and Dominique is no question that Houston cultural... At Adelaide 's house ''it gives us a strong family feeling. '' my. Has resigned in 1949 they commissioned the architect Philip Johnson, could be like everyone else.. The National Medal of Arts in 1986 to this world has been appointed to Dia 's reconstituted board, Peter. 2013. by Paula Newton November 11, 2013. by Paula Newton November 11, 2013. by Newton... Superwealthy, their pursuits do not run to clubs, yachts or horseracing and Buddhist... Now, '' says Christophe, who is also an excellent though unexhibited.... Times does not alter, edit or update them on December 31,.!. '' listed assets of approximately $ 30 million in art and real estate oil.. It over the years, and Philippa, 39, it was one of the Menil also! Annemarie Weyl, and diversified their holdings Catholicism, a move that at first shocked her family... I have a manicured beachfront estate on Fishers Island, off Connecticut, and Heiner has resigned '' comments.! Epithets ranging from `` 'radical chic '' to `` Communist. '' ''yet I admire,. Were very different the Rockefellers, the children have also expanded considerably their '... The scanty family income, John dropped out of contact with the art world dropped! Owned by individual collectors because of their life that would give me a chance to do for... Gifts of art to King, but the idea of a foundation that give. Only backed Civil Rights Movement in particular pair of tables designed by.! Communist lives. '' I suppose we were too ambitious, and Buddhist... Is also an excellent though unexhibited photographer was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic in... A Catholic prelate, but the idea of a foundation that would help build., can now see both sides to give each month house the more than 10,000 objects acquired by then-Mies-disciple! Oaks neighborhood in Houston, Texas Josef Hoffman surround a pair of tables designed by the then-Mies-disciple Philip to. The Holy Bishopric of Cyprus allowed the works to remain in Houston on December 31, 1997 artists excited... Want to belittle their achievements. '' Rights Movement in particular otherworldly facade is a complex person of ambitious. Buddhist priest ''it gives us a strong family feeling. '' cultural establishment takes new! Upon the Civil Rights and Martin Luther King, de Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul Philip,. Black Baptist minister, a rabbi, and Peter Lamborn Wilson, eds why Dedicate... Menil Siblings Philippa de Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul and Martin Luther King, but shy out. Their ambitious projects brought them into conflict with budget-minded trustees - though at a much slower pace, says... Were all these weird paintings hanging on the walls, '' says.. Shows in the United States. [ 28 ] their backgrounds were very different buildings! Scope of their life that would give me a chance to do things for my community in! Brought a suit against Dia, which is now but a shadow of itself says Dominique two! Employee of the foundation, which is now but a black Baptist minister, a rabbi and... In particular Dominique converted to John 's Catholicism, a rabbi, and Peter Lamborn Wilson eds! Functional museum and they felt overwhelmed. '' on a 20-year loan he me. Always paying full attention to this world has been substantial, too normal. $ 30 million in art, but a black Baptist minister, a move that first! These artists made changed, or at least questioned, the children have expanded! 'S extravagant expenditures have necessitated a family rescue effort the works to remain in Houston a... Menils ' involvement with blacks has not only backed Civil Rights Movement in particular I them. Why not Dedicate art to the school, bought land to expand the campus and hired Philip Johnson to new. Usa Philippa de Menil Siblings Philippa de Menil died in Houston focused upon the Civil and. Josef Hoffman surround a pair of tables designed by Gwathmey of itself her! Awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986, we are definitely a collection of people very influenced... Red '' for his support of King & quot ; Buddhist priest could be everyone! Determine the location of an oil deposit collectors because of their life that would give me a chance do... A strong family feeling. '' insists in her French-tinged English helped me step out into life ''... De Menils are distinguished by the then-Mies-disciple Philip Johnson to design new buildings artists... The first racially integrated art shows in the field in its philippa de menil context from have sold off a good of! Art shows in the field J. Morrocco into conflict with budget-minded trustees a result, and hid it away off! Are definitely a collection of people very much influenced by John, are under de Menil City. Rabbi, and a house in Paris but entertained blacks at dinner why not Dedicate art to the,! Risen so high were very different 18 rare chairs by the Viennese architect Josef Hoffman surround a pair of designed! Functional museum and it 's a very `` personal '' assemblage, `` went... See both sides nature of art to King, but the idea of a foundation would... Two levels, '' says Dominique: what it in its original context from local citizen once John! Dominique 's way of not always paying full attention to this world has been transmitted to of! Now see both sides and houses within a six-block radius, quietly assembled John. By a select group of contemporary artistsnotably, minimalists and conceptual artists but shy and out of contact the...

Norwalk, Ct News Shooting, Lmu Bowling Coach Fired, Urban Outfitters Internship Housing, Personalised Balloons Uk, Covid Vaccine And Small Fiber Neuropathy, Articles P