Beck Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston, TX
(713) 639-7300
Major Expansion of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Moves Forward with the Construction of the Audrey Jones Beck Building
Photographs of Model of Audrey Jones Brook Building © Aker/Zvonkovic
T he Museum of Fine Arts, Houston is nearing the concluding phase of a 15-yr period of planned expansion equally the 
structure of the Audrey Jones Brook Building nears completion. The Beck Building of galleries is designed by the esteemed Castilian builder Rafael Moneo and will more than double the museum'southward exhibition space, catapulting the MFAH from thirtieth to sixth largest in the nation, with 158,150 sq. ft. defended to the exhibition of the museum's encyclopedic collection of art.
Construction of the Beck Building will exist completed in 1999, and the public opening will exist in March 2000, the centennial anniversary of the institution. Also under construction is a three-story parking garage, exhibition ticketing eye, and museum service building. These new facilities occupy two city blocks next to the existing museum campus, which comprises 
the Caroline Wiess Law Edifice of galleries, an administration building, the Glassell Schoolhouse of Art, and a sculpture garden. Nether the leadership of MFAH board of trustees chairman Alfred C. Glassell, Jr., the upper-case letter campaign for the expansion project has raised $112 million of the $115 million goal. Left: Rafael Moneo, architect and Peter C. Marzio, director of MFAH at grounbreaking ceremony for Audrey Jones Beck Building; Correct Above: Rafael Moneo
Peter C. Marzio, managing director of the MFAH, commented, "As the Audrey Jones Brook Building rises from the ground, the profile of Houston is quite literally changing, and our eyes are on the time to come. This final stage of the MFAH expansion brings with it a redefinition of the unabridged establishment and its ability to serve the public through its commitment to excellence in the collections, exhibitions, education, and outreach."
Expansion History
The new edifice is named in honor of Audrey Jones Beck, a life trustee of the MFAH and donor of the John A. and Audrey Jones Beck Collection of Impressionist and Mail-Impressionist art, which has been on view in the museum's galleries since 1974. The paintings in the Beck Collection were personally selected by Audrey Beck and her tardily husband and are a rich selection of Impressionist, Pointillist, and Fauvist works. The Beck Collection contains paintings by artists such as Gustave Caillebotte, Paul Cezanne, Andre Derain, Vincent van Gogh, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet, and Georges Seurat, among others, and is ane of the public'due south near cherished collections of the museum. 
In addition to the Beck Building, the expansion has included the installation of the Hugh Roy Cullen Sculpture Garden, designed by Isamu Noguchi; the purchase and renovation of an off-campus art storage and conservation facility; and the construction of a building on Montrose Boulevard on the museum campus to house the Glassell Junior Schoolhouse and the administrative offices of the MFAH. The expansion projects too have included major renovation of the two house museums, Bayou Bend and Rienzi, that respectively hold American and European decorative arts collections of the MFAH. Simultaneously, the 1978 Glassell School of Art building was refurbished with a new central found, new school studios and offices, and a new auditorium with seating for 100 people. In a higher place: Construction, 1998 at Audrey Jones Beck Building © Aker/Zvonkovic
The Audrey Jones Beck Building will exist the central repository for the museum's collections of art from artifact to 1920, including Renaissance and Baroque fine art from the drove of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation and the John A. and Audrey Jones Beck Collection of Impressionist and Mail-Impressionist art. Several collection areas now shown selectively-American art to 1920, prints, drawings, and photography-will have permanent galleries for the first fourth dimension. Additional galleries have been designed to conform special exhibitions, enabling the MFAH to attract big traveling exhibitions previously prohibitive considering of space limitations.
History of the MFAH
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston traces its origin to the Houston Public School Fine art League, which was 
founded on March 24, 1900 with a mission of encouraging art didactics. In 1913, the organization changed its name to the Houston Art League, and by 1917, the land for a museum building had been acquired. The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opened on Apr 12, 1924, the first art museum in Texas, and the third in the Southward. From its inception, it was planned to house a comprehensive collection of art. 
Left: Construction, 1998 at Audrey Jones Beck Building; Right: Aerial View of MFAH © Aker/Zvonkovic
Today, the permanent collection of the MFAH spans more than half-dozen,000 years of history with more twoscore,000 works from six continents, making the museum the largest in the Southwest and a major educational resource for the region. Public participation in MFAH activities is now at a record high, with a membership of 43,000 households, ranking the museum 7th in the nation in number of members. The museum has i,095,000 visitors and a total of 1.5 million participants in its programs annually.
Museum educational activity and customs outreach are major components of the museum's commitment to the public. In 1997, the MFAH received an Institute of Museum and Library Services National Award for Museum Service which honors museums that demonstrate commitment to public service with innovative programs addressing social, economic, or environmental problems.
Search for more manufactures and essays on American art in Resource Library. See America'south Distinguished Artists for biographical data on historic artists.
This page was originally published in 1999 in Resource Library Mag. Please see Resource Library's Overview section for more information.
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Source: https://tfaoi.org/newsm1/n1m106.htm
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