Newly Opened Menil Drawing Institute Aims to Expand Scholarship

The first building to be added to the Menil Campus in more than 20 years, it joins four other structures: the main museum building, designed by Renzo Piano; the Cy Twombly Gallery (also designed by Piano); Richmond  Hall, which houses a site-specific Dan Flavin installation; and  the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, designed by François de Menil. The Menil Collection’s main building opened to the public in 1987 and has since become a major destination for art study and tourism.

Their inaugural exhibition showcases the Menil’s impressive collection of Jasper Johns drawings, an exhibition and accompanying catalogue raisonné a decade in the making. The Condition of Being Here: Drawings by Jasper Johns spans the artist’s career, with 41 works in a variety of media. The Menil is one of the world’s largest repositories of drawings by Johns, and amongst these works audiences will recognize many of Johns familiar subjects, styles, and motifs.

Designed by Los Angeles-based architecture firm Johnston Marklee and New York-based landscape architecture firm Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the new building is named for Menil Collection Chair Emerita Louisa Stude Sarofim, who for years worked on and championed the Drawing Institute. Menil Collection Director Rebecca Rabinow describes the building’s architecture as “quietly innovative.” Striking a delicate balance between ample natural light and protecting fragile works on paper from the powerful Texas sun, the Drawing Institute’s vaulted ceilings and peaceful open spaces are reminiscent of the nearby Rothko Chapel, another project commisioned by the collection's founders, the de Menils.

The Menil Drawing Institute is located at 1412 West Main Street, Houston. All Menil art spaces are open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and admission to the Menil is always free.