Marion McNay was an American painter and art teacher who inherited a substantial oil fortune upon the death of her father. She was an enthusiastic collector of Modern Art and on her death bequeathed her collection of some 700 paintings and other works of art to found the first Modern Art Museum in Texas. The Museum has built on the bequest and now has almost 20,000 works in their collection.
The gallery spaces are light, bright, spacious and airy and there was an excellent range of works on display.
The collection particularly focuses on 19th, 20th and 21st-century European and American paintings, sculptures and photographs. It also includes medieval and renaissance works, art and artefacts from New Mexico and an extensive collection of theatre arts.
The 19th and early 20th Century is represented by artists including Monet
Gauguin
Modigliani
Braque
and Picasso
Post War European art included works by
Ben Nicholson
and Barbara Hepworth
Not surprisingly there were a large number of works by American artists, including Joan Mitchell
Hudson River Day Line (1955)
Willem de Kooning
Eddy Farm (1964)
Sue Fuller
String Composition #T220 (1965)
and two small paintings by Jackson Pollock
I liked this little sculpture, Snake on a table (1944) by Alexander Calder
This painting by Diego Rivera was one of the first works purchased by Marion McNay.
Delfina Flores (1927) by Diego Rivera
Upstairs in the old house there works from the Medieval and Renaissance collection and the collection of artefacts from New Mexico. I wasn’t so keen on the former but rather liked the display of paintings, pottery, textiles and other objects that constituted the latter.
I particularly liked the examples of Pueblo pottery, created by Native Americans, they had on display.
Overall an excellent gallery, well worth the ride out there on the bus.
They also had a good collection of sculpture (besides the two works above). I’ll return to that in another post.
Down by the Dougie 