Scope and Contents When I was in Houston last week, my brother and I also visited the Rothko Chapel. We found it very emblematic of contemporary spirituality.Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was an abstract artist who was commissioned by Houston art collectors John and Dominique de Menil to create a “meditative space” employing his paintings. The Rothko Chapel was completed in 1971, a year after the artist committed suicide.Described by its website as “a sacred space” open to all, for all...

Scope and Contents When the Menil Drawing Institute opens here on Saturday in a smashing new building, more than a year after a planned debut was abruptly postponed just days before Hurricane Harvey devastated vast swaths of the Bayou City, it will boast a unique distinction. A sophisticated, $40-million facility built specifically for the acquisition, exhibition, study, conservation and storage of modern and contemporary drawings, it is the only place of its kind in the United States.Call it a...

Scope and Contents Post up in the Post OakHouston has plenty of hotels we love, but none quite so over-the-top as the relatively new Post Oak Hotel, where you can charge a Rolls Royce to your room (there's a dealership on-site) and enjoy artwork by Frank Stella, Donald Sultan, and Robert Motherwell without leaving the hotel. If you don't want to spring for the 5,000-square-foot presidential suite (which comes with two bedrooms, a private elevator, gym, 24-hour butler service, and access to the...

Scope and Contents The new Menil Drawing Institute looks like a stealth jet of a building from Richmond Avenue, so sleek and low-slung that passersby might not notice it across the expanse of grass where the Richmont Square Apartments once stood.Architects Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee have delivered a marvel of light, shadow and lines defined by the slant of a razor-thin metal roof and recessed walls of dark gray cedar and glass. In some interior areas, the ceiling is punctuated by deep, diagonal...

Scope and Contents The new Menil Drawing Institute, part of the Menil Collection, opened up to the public on Saturday, Nov. 3. According to the Menil, the Institute is the first free standing museum built expressly for the acquisition, study, exhibition, conservation and storage of modern and contemporary drawings. “This is a beautiful, purposed structure. It is the first new building to open at the Menil Collection in more than 20 years,” Rebecca Rabinow, director of...

Scope and Contents A MONONYM IS possessed of a certain celebrity: Prince, Madonna, Iman. No surname needed, thank you very much. Just a couple of syllables and the whole of the mononym’s grandeur flashes across our consciousness.Solange. Two mellifluous syllables and her face springs to mind: the fierce, open gaze, those striking full eyebrows. Solange the singer, songwriter, choreographer, visual and performing artist, with four, soon to be five, albums to her name. Solange the 2017 Grammy winner:...

Scope and Contents Mark Rothko explores the eponymous color in a filmed version of John Logan's Tony-winning play.A leader of one art revolution ponders both the plutocrats who would co-opt him and the younger painters who'd overthrow him in Red, John Logan's Tony-winning 2009 play about Mark Rothko. Filming a 2018 revival of director Michael Grandage's original production, Nick Morris gets close enough to Alfred Molina's powerhouse lead performance that even those who saw the show live may want to...

Scope and Contents Breaking News Energy stocks have taken a beating along with oil prices. Energy companies lose $1 trillion on crude drop Grand jury clears man in death of Chinatown robbery suspectFaith leaders tie climate change to their scriptures at Rothko Chapel prayer serviceBy Nicole Hensley Updated 7:27 pm CST, Saturday, November 17, 2018 Members of different faith traditions listen during the 34th Annual Houston Interfaith Thanksgiving...