They were the first Americans to influence Europeans. You were sharing in the great adventure of making a work of art that was maybe too crazy to realize in any other way.'' 1538-1576 - Anne de Barbay, fille de Guyot de Barbay et d'Anne de Frenelle. While the de Menils' collecting and museum-building activities have been enthusiastically compared to those of the great Medici patrons, perhaps a more apt contemporary analogy is with the Rockefeller clan, which entered the art field in the early part of this century. Both born in Houston - their three elders were born in France - they grew up in the rebellious 60's and seem to have come to terms more uneasily than the others with the Schlumberger aura. Initially the stated aim as written in its first report was to "plan, realise and maintain public projects of artists. It was there that the de Menils began their institutional involvement with art. It has, among other gifts, attracted two $5 million contributions: one from the Cullen Foundation, set up by the late conservative oilman Hugh Roy Cullen, another from the Brown Foundation, established by the late Brown brothers, Herman and George R., who were partners in the giant engineering-construction firm of Brown & Root. Helped by Citizens for Good Schools, a progressive organization supported by de Menil money, Everett won his seat, along with the other three candidates supported by the citizens group. The project, not universally appreciated by black scholars who tend to feel the emphasis should be placed on what blacks themselves have created, has so far published two books on the subject. They are men mostly, with big egos and big ideas. (To help finance this expensive venture, she sold a number of important paintings last year at Sotheby-Parke Bernet, realizing more than $2 million. The two met at a ball in Versailles, and were married in 1931, when Dominique was 22 and John was 27 and working in a Paris bank. 1529-1538 - Philippa de Ligniville, fille de Jean de Ligniville et de Jeanne d'Oiselet. Hugetz, Edward, and Brian Huberman. The Menil Collection's discreet, low-key architecture befits its site in Montrose, a modest, socially mixed residential area of Houston. ''I went to breakfast, lunch and dinner at their house and met every important person they knew. ''I was interested in art, but shy and out of contact with the art world. The two youngest children are Francois, 41, and Philippa, 39. Today, while Dominique still administers the Institute for the Arts, and contributes to such programs as fellowships for graduate students in art history, the de Menil presence there has shrunk considerably. ''We changed the basic political structure of Houston,'' says Hofheinz -now chairman of Tangent Oil and Gas - whose four-year mayoral stint corresponded with Houston's ''go-go'' period of growth. He remembers admiring a photograph by Henri Cartier-Bresson at Adelaide's house. [7] Her first husband (whom she married on May 14, 1969, in Harris County, Texas) was Italian anthropologist Francesco Pellizzi (born July 14, 1940). Additionally, they have a manicured beachfront estate on Fishers Island, off Connecticut, and a house in Paris. To suggest the institution's role in enabling such ambitions, they selected the name "Dia," taken from the Greek word meaning "through." And several years ago, when they were agitating in Albany for legislation on fishing rights. The day and hour were set, with Dominique's agreement. [5] (The two recently returned from a trek to western Tibet to take in the ruins of an 11th-century Buddhist temple.) But, he says, ''I was fortunate to be exposed to their interest in art as part of the natural fabric of life. [26] It was established as an autonomous organization the next year and began hosting colloquia, beginning with "Traditional Modes of Contemplation and Action," which brought together religious leaders, scholars, and musicians from four continents. Fariha Friedrichwhich is the name Philippa de Menil assumed after she and Heiner Friedrich embraced Sufi Islam and married in 1979was talking about the beginning of their foundation. After his death, he lay in state, wrapped in a sheet in his own bed. Dominique gracefully dismisses the criticisms of the building - planned by her and John since the early 1970's - primarily voiced by Christophe and Adelaide, who wanted a designer of more weight than Renzo Piano. A local citizen once called John up and railed against him as a ''red'' for his support of King. Heiner has helped me step out into life.''. she asked, in genuine surprise. [31] The result was a museum that appeared "small on the outside, butas big as possible inside". The Fathers opted for Catholic identity, and after much soul-searching on both sides, the de Menils departed, reacquiring much of the art they had given, trading it for land purchased by them for St. Thomas's expansion. THE COUPLE'S MOST INTENSE Houston involvement was with St. Thomas University, a small Catholic college. ''The funny thing is, how it came out in me after my parents' collecting,'' says Philippa, a fresh-faced blonde who has her mother's unpretentious manner and good looks. Notes Dominique's younger sister, Sylvie Boissonnas -also an art collector and patron, who lives in Paris, ''My father was of Gide's atheist generation, and Dominique was very spiritual. ''If it hadn't been for them, we wouldn't be here,'' says Father Frank H. Bredeweg, now president of the college. Why Not Dedicate Art to King, De Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul. They found it after the war, when their view of Ernst had improved, and they later became one of the artist's most diligent patrons, winding up with more than 100 of his works. When John de Menil walked into Alexander Iolas Gallery in Paris one day in 1964, Jean Tinguely's moving, noisy sculptures stole part of . Apr 18, 2018 1:37PM. "Defying prejudice, Islam's mystical, musical strain appeals to New Yorkers", Menil Foundation - Handbook of Texas Online, "A Special Prize of the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Dominique_de_Menil&oldid=1127825718, This page was last edited on 16 December 2022, at 21:42. French expats who left Paris for the United States during World War II, the de Menils were the heirs to multiple fortunesincluding Dominique's family's booming oil equipment company . Heiner Friedrich is an art dealer and collector of minimal art and conceptual art. She began to collect work by contemporary Americans even before her parents did, and exerted considerable influence on their acquisitions in the field. [1], John and Dominique de Menil began collecting art intensively in the 1940s, beginning with a purchase of Paul Czanne's 1895 painting Montagne (Mountain) in 1945. Photo by Michael Schmelling Following Ozak's death, the tariqa was split into the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order and the Jerrahi Order of America, with the former reflecting a more "universalistic" orientation, and the latter a more . WHERE THE DE MENIL MONEY COMES FROM. '', See the article in its original context from. '', ''I wanted a functional museum and they wanted great architecture,'' comments Dominique. Friedrich and his then wife Philippa de Menil, together with Helen Winkler, established the Dia Art Foundation in 1973. Dia initially focused on commissioning works by a select group of contemporary artistsnotably, minimalists and conceptual artists. In 1981, on the chapel's 10th birthday, awards of $10,000 each were given to a dozen exemplary figures working in the cause of human rights -ranging from Tatiana Velikanova, a Russian mathematician, to Ned O'Gorman, a poet who founded the Children's Storefront in Harlem. In 1986, de Menil deepened her involvement in social causes, establishing the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation with former president Jimmy Carter to "promote the protection of human rights throughout the world". (Brought up a Protestant, she converted to Catholicism to marry John.) (Spookily enough, another dwelling she had built on the same site about 20 years ago met the same end.) Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak's most prominent disciples and successors in North America were Tosun Bayrak, Lex Hixon, and Philippa de Menil. An economist, with a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he has taught at Princeton and is founding director of the economics research division of the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, where he is a professor and where he spends time teaching each year. Before, I did things for others, and now I'm doing something for myself. Carr, Annemarie Weyl, and Laurence J. Morrocco. And Donald Judd has gone public with vociferous denunciations of the foundation, which is now but a shadow of itself. And she goes on collecting - though at a much slower pace, she says, because prices have risen so high. Dominique de Menil, the daughter of Conrad Schlumberger and his wife, Louise Delpech, was born in Paris on March 23, 1908. [6], "Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi | WISE Muslim Women Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fariha_al_Jerrahi&oldid=1096401510, This page was last edited on 4 July 2022, at 07:16. You can look up the words in the phrase individually using these links: philippa? Hewing to the European tradition of millionaire radicals, they came to be Houston's most rewardingly subversive citizens, bringing maverick ideas to the provinces about art, politics and what to do with money. [1] She was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986. After Sheikh Nur's passing, she would take on the guidance of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order and it's circles of dervishes around the world. And I loathed the black-tiled floor. They established the university's Media Center in 1967. For starters, in a locale where the ideal home was a formal white-pillared mansion, the de Menils got Philip Johnson to do them a sprawling, one-level house. They have also come to the aid of liberal-left politicians and Islamic religious groups, avant-garde music and counterculture films, archeological digs and art education, Long Island fishermen and anti-Vietnam activists. Philippa de Menil (now Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi) ominously reflected on the passing of her spiritual guide saying, "His death seemed to herald many new changes." [5] The new board began slashing at Dia contracts and real estate to get the budget under control with projects being dropped and dismantled at a fast rate. Leland, a civil-rights and antiwar activist who was studying to be a pharmacist at Texas Southern University, had dropped out to run the campaign of a black minister, D. Leon Everett, who sought a seat on the then-all-white board. Most INTENSE Houston involvement was with St. Thomas University, a small Catholic college heiner Friedrich is art! Then wife Philippa de Menil Asks City Council., Richard, Paul links... University, a small Catholic college I was interested in art, but and! A small Catholic college as written in its first report was to & quot ; plan, realise and public. 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