DressDiversions

“Each generation gets to reinvent art in its own image.”

White, Kit. 101 Things to Learn in Art School. Paperback edition, MIT Press, 2024.

Discovery, lifelong learning, and curiosity best describe my interest in starting to blog again. After a website redesign, I shared my first post (Back-to-School) last week, a brief essay about prepping for my spring art class, Modern and Contemporary Art at the MFAH. An excerpt from the course description follows.

The professor covered a lot of material in class this week: Fauvism, German Expressionism, Cubism, and the School of Paris: 1900s–1930s. Before class, I visited the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building and the Audrey Jones Beck Building. Rather than viewing a broad sample of each major topic, I chose Fauvism as the focus of my pre-trip visit to the MFAH. 

Fauvism was a short-lived art movement that emerged in the early 1900’s. Characterized by bold colors and intense brushwork, the Fauves, translated as “wild beasts,” strove to capture emotion rather than reality. The most well-known Fauve artist is Henri Matisse. Other artists associated with Fauvism at the MFAH include André Derain, Kees van Dongen, and Maurice de Vlaminck.¹

In February 2024, I visited the museum’s temporary exhibition Vertigo of Color: Matisse, Derain, and the Origins of Fauvism. A virtual tour of the exhibition provides insightful commentary about the summer Henri Matisse and Andre Derain spent working together in the French Mediterranean fishing village of Collioure. The exhibition celebrated the birth of modernism and included paintings, watercolors, and drawings created by both artists.

Next up: From Representation to Abstraction, and back to Representation

1. Images of the artworks were taken during my visits on February 25 and March 3, 2026. ↩︎

Last week, I attended week four of my spring art history class, Modern and Contemporary Art at the MFAH. Several of the students in the class are retired and enjoy taking courses at the studio school for the joy of learning, as I do.

Last semester, I decided to pursue a Certificate in Art History. My class this spring is one of several courses required to complete the 24-credit-hour certificate curriculum. The assignment for course credit is typically a written paper. Needless to say, I’ve started working on ideas.

I’m considering this week’s topic, Impressionism and the Post-Impressionists, as a potential starting point for my paper. To prepare for class, I completed the following tasks as recommended by the course professor.

A Virtual Tour of the Beck Collection

The video is an engaging overview of the extraordinary gift to the MFAH from John A and Audrey Jones Beck. The collection contains over 70 Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. Click the link below if you are interested in viewing the video.

The Collection of John A. and Audrey Jones Beck

The Beck Building

The beauty of studying art movements in this course is access to the MFAH collection. During the hour before class, I wandered through the Beck building galleries 221-227, European Art, 1800-1940. A common thread guided my choice of works for review: depictions of a tree(s). Preparation before class provided a solid foundation for the class lecture and generated a deeper, richer understanding of the artists and their works.¹

Next up: Fauvism, German Expressionism, Cubism, and the School of Paris: 1900’s – 1930’s

1. Images of artworks were photographed during my visit on February 18, 2026. ↩︎