Symposium on Henri Rousseau

Henri Rousseau Symposium at the Menil Collection

Henri Rousseau: Paint + Process
A Menil Symposium
Jones Auditorium
University of St. Thomas
Saturday, October 2, 2010
2 6-30 pm

   "But what, ah! What is Henri Rousseau?"
    Elisabeth Luther Cary, 1931

Over the years many have attempted to answer the question posed by
Elisabeth Luther Cary, "What is Henri Rousseau?" Some have called
the artist a grandfather of Surrealism, others a precursor of
Cubism, while still others have positioned him as the leader of a
school of modern primitives. But while the question has vexed
generations of art lovers, the most apparent answer has hardly been
considered: Henri Rousseau was a painter, a maker of pictorial
compositions whose aesthetic objectives have never been well
understood. Fittingly, in the centennial year of the artist's death,
Henri Rousseau: Paint +Process probes Rousseau's pictures to
challenge decades of received wisdom about the artist and begin to
understand how he created his captivating body of work.

Born in 1844, Rousseau has long been acknowledged as a key figure in
the evolution of modern painting, but his reputation as a naive
artist has led to a general disregard of his techniques and the
physical properties of his work. The international,
interdisciplinary Henri Rousseau: Paint +Process promises to lay the
groundwork for a new approach to the painter, drawing on
conservation science as well as new art historical insights. The
afternoon symposium will explore unanswered questions surrounding
Rousseau and his paintings--including the two surprising specimens
residing in the Menil, Bonne fete (1892) and La Sainte Famille
(1905), a singular work of modern sacred art whose attribution has
remained in question for decades.

Leading the symposium will be Katrina Bartlett, Andrew W. Mellon
Fellow in Paintings Conservation, and Caitlin Haskell, Vivian L.
Smith Foundation Fellow, who since last fall have worked in
collaboration with conservators and curators from many institutions
worldwide. Bartlett and Haskell have delved below the surface of
Rousseau's paintings and with Henri Rousseau: Paint +Process they
will culminate their year long inquiry into the material and
technical aspects of the artist's work. The distinguished company
gathering in Houston on October 2 to discuss research into
Rousseau's paintings includes conservators, curators, and historians
from the Art Institute of Chicago; the Barnes Foundation; Courtauld
Institute; Fondation Beyeler; J. Paul Getty Museum; the Museum of
Fine Arts, Houston; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the
Phillips Collection; Rice University; and the University of Texas at
Austin.

Admission to the symposium is free. Jones Auditorium (Yoakum Blvd.
at Sul Ross St.) is located on the main campus of UST, between the
Menil and Montrose Blvd. Free parking is available on the streets
around the Menil and the University of St. Thomas, in the Menil's
main parking lot (W. Alabama at Mulberry), and in the lot west of
the Link Lee Mansion (W. Alabama at Yoakum). Paid parking ($2) in
the Moran Center Parking Garage (W. Alabama at Graustark).

Sponsored by the Vivian L. Smith Foundation.

For maps and additional information, please visit

    <URL:http://www.menil.org>


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