So first report from Houston on the search for great American graphics
Its a bust : kind of.
I have spent around 7 delightful hours at a large antiques centre and the delightful Fine Arts Museum
At the centre there were a lot of signs
A very nice quirky montage pastiche
And one poster : its a very nice one admittedly! But definitely French
Its set me up though for the visit to the museum
25% of what was on offer there (well not exactly on offer but you follow) was American, there were Rothkos and De Koenigs and a number of other 20th Century Masters but nothing that you could call poster worthy.
25% was a Mexican 20th Century exhibition which was very good. I am posting some pics here to give you an idea. The depth of output here is quite astounding. Some of the outstanding items could be described as 6 pictures in one and there were many of them.
The European section was the largest, there must have been 150 impressionists to expressionist paintings : the majority French. The standouts were a couple by Matisse which would have made amazing posters.
Sidebar on Matisse. He worked 8 hour days 7 days a week for 50 years. One amusing anecdote is that he used to persuade his models to work Sunday with the promise of a day off in the week. ‘I uses to hope they would forget and most times they did’ he confessed.
Anyway its been a joy. Tomorrow a take on the American flag. Good night y”all