An outlier among Marion Koogler McNay's collection, El Greco's Head of Christ was an unusual purchase for a collector focused on modern art. More than likely, this acquisition reflects Mrs. McNay's awareness of works assembled by Marjorie and Duncan Phillips, which became Washington, DC's famed Phillips Collection. They also acquired an El Greco as their unique old master painting for an otherwise modern collection.

Over the years since the McNay opened in 1954, scholarship on the Greek painter Doménikos Theotokópoulos, known as El Greco, progressed steadily. Originally accepted as El Greco's work, the museum's painting in recent decades was presumed a studio version or later copy of another work by the master. When the McNay's director visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art's El Greco exhibition several years ago, he studied other depictions of Christ, suspecting the McNay's painting warranted examination by a conservator and more research. Subsequently the painting was sent to Dallas where painting conservator Helen Mar Parkin proceeded cautiously to remove overpaint applied after the era of El Greco, as well as discolored varnish and grime to the extent they could be safely removed.

In this process, the McNay benefited from advice given by art historian Bill Jordan, who organized a major El Greco exhibition in 1982. As work progressed, the painting began to look more convincing as an autograph work. Jordan however deferred to Leticia Ruiz Gómez of Madrid's Museo Nacional del Prado, who is preparing the complete catalogue of El Greco's work. Earlier photographs of the McNay's painting had been sent to Madrid; now new photographs followed. Fortunately the Prado curator planned a visit to the Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University in Dallas; on that occasion, she traveled to San Antonio to see the painting first hand. Upon viewing it, she confirmed it as largely by El Greco's hand, with the face of Christ-especially the eyes and beard-very beautifully painted.

Head of Christ is now reframed in the 17th-century Spanish style and appears in the exhibition An El Greco Rediscovered in the first Hamon Gallery on the upper level of the McNay residence for an extended period. A focus exhibition explains the conservation process, compares the McNay painting to other versions of this composition, and discusses studio assistance and later additions.

Click HERE for a list of programs related to this exhibition

This exhibition was organized by the McNay Art Museum.

Funding is generously provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment, and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions.

Image credit: El Greco (Doménikos Theotokópoulos) and workshop, Head of Christ, ca. 1579-86. Oil on canvas. Collection of the McNay Art Museum, Bequest of Marion Koogler McNay.

Chris Sauter’s eight-hour video Empire (2006) is an homage to Andy Warhol’s film of the same title, showing in the first gallery of Andy Warhol: Fame and Misfortune. Warhol’s Empire—eight hours and five minutes— is a silent, black-and-white 16mm film of the Empire State Building in New York, shot entirely on the night of July 25–26, 1964. The only perceptible changes in Warhol’s film are the flicking on and off of floodlights on the building’s exterior. Sauter’s Empire, initially shot on videotape, substitutes San Antonio’s Southtown iconic Pioneer Flour Mills grain elevator for the Empire State Building. Like Warhol’s film, Sauter’s Empire never deviates from its subject, and the only movements are the nearly imperceptible waving of an American flag and changing cloud formations.

A Century of Collage

May 16 | September 2, 2012

In the 19th century, before the emergence of the term collage, gluing together bits of paper tickets, photographs, printed texts, and other ephemera—was largely a craft, a technique used for scrapbooks and other domestic memorabilia. In the early 20th century, however, artists like Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso glued together papers, turning the humble medium into fine art. The collage was born. Among the earliest of fine art collages is the McNay’s Guitar and Wine Glass made by Picasso in 1912. This combination of found wallpaper, scraps of sheet music, and studio fragments, foreshadows artistic and philosophical issues in modern art: abstraction, the paradox of high and low culture, and the challenge of traditional figure/ground relationships. Exploration of these issues advanced greatly with the introduction of collage into the art repertoire.

A Century of Collage celebrates 100 years of the fine art of pasting paper on paper by examining different ways artists have used it, from the pioneering work of Picasso, to the cool, geometric abstraction of Burgoyne Diller, and the highly conceptual Violent Space Series by John Baldessari. Other artists included are John Fraser, Eileen Gray, Fannie Hillsmith, Lee Krasner, and Robert Motherwell.

Click HERE for a list of programs related to this exhibition

This exhibition was organized by the McNay.

Funding is generously provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment, and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions.

Rouault’s Miserere

Printed Prayers

May 16 | July 29, 2012

In 1916, the influential Parisian print dealer and publisher Ambroise Vollard (1865–1939) commissioned Georges Rouault (1871–1958) to create a large portfolio of prints based on drawings the artist had done about the ravages of war, human folly, and salvation through Jesus Christ. Inspired by Psalm 51’s opening line, “Have mercy on me, O Lord,” the resulting portfolio, Miserere, is considered Rouault’s masterpiece, as well as a landmark of 20th-century printmaking. Rouault worked feverishly on the 58 metal printing plates, employing a variety of intaglio methods, including etching and aquatint. Working on the plates during two campaigns—1916–1917 and 1920–1927—Rouault made layer upon layer of different marks, along with dense tones and textures, to achieve the incredibly rich prints.

The content of the images, as well as Rouault’s laborious, meditative process, have led many scholars to characterize Miserere as the artist’s prayer for the salvation of humanity in a tumultuous time scarred by two world wars. When the portfolio was finally published in 1948, it was shown in its entirety in European and American museums, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Miserere was instantly recognized and celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in 20th-century graphic arts. For the first time in over 20 years, the entire suite is on view at the McNay.

Click HERE for a list of programs related to this exhibition

This exhibition was organized by the McNay.

Funding is generously provided by the Elizabeth Huth Coates Exhibition Endowment, and the Arthur and Jane Stieren Fund for Exhibitions.