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From Picasso to Twombly here's a look at the rise of the single-artist museum.

BY LISA BUTLER

Texas is big on superlatives, so how about this - the oldest, the newest, and almost the most. What are we talking about? Why, single-artist museums, of course It may come as a surprise to many that Texas has more single-artist museums than any other state except for New York.

The idea of a single artist museum isn't new. Museums devoted to the work of one artist are scattered throughout the country and abroad. In Europe, there is a long history of preserving artists' studios born out of reverential respect for the creators. Picasso has four museums dedicated to his life and work. Dali has five. France, Italy, and Germany combined have 80 single-artist museums. In total, more than 250 single-artist museums are visited regularly worldwide.

Some are house or studio museums filled with tools and ephemera as if the artist had just stepped out for a drink or walk. Others are more formal, designed by the artist or a foundation devoted to maintaining the artists legacy. Sometimes it was the family, other times a city or nation that preserved and presented the work of the artist for the benefit of the public.

"There is nothing that quite equals the museum of a single artist,” notes Mark Rosenthal, former curator of 20th-century art at the Guggenheim Museum. "The experience is like being spellbound in a magical play.”

Here in Texas, in Austin, the Elisabet Ney Museum opened in 1907. Possibly the first formal Texas art studio and definitely, the first single-artist museum dedicated to a woman. Franzisca Bernadina Wilhelmina Elisabet Ney, a highly renowned female European sculptor, emigrated to Texas in 1872. Her home and studio, Formosa, is dedicated to her life and work, exhibiting personal memorabilia as well as portrait busts of famous notables including Giuseppe Garibaldi, King Ludwig Il of Bavaria, Sam Houston, and Stephen F. Austin.

Former University of Texas life drawing and sculpture professor Charles Umlauf and his wife Angeline purchased a carriage house in 1944 that became their home at the top of a hill next to Austin's Zilker Park. In 1985, they donated their property, his art studio, and 168 sculptures to the City of Austin for public enjoyment and education. Six years later, the city, using private funds, built a museum that now features exhibitions of Umlauf and his 20th-century peers.

Fifty miles from the Ney and Umlauf museums is Texas's newest single-artist museum. Established by another European, Museo Benin was built in 2015 in the Texas Hill Country to exhibit the lifetime work of Italian artist Benini and features paintings spanning more than sixty years. On exhibit are early "superroses", geometric paintings, and more recent works of an abstract nature. The museum compound sits on 35 artfully curated acres. An old-world stone and steel entrance contrasts the Benins' personal collection of international contemporary sculpture displayed on the grounds.

With cities like Los Angeles and New York and even Austin designated strongholds for art in the United States, why after 162 solo exhibitions here and abroad - would Benini establish a museum in the Texas countryside?

It seems his love of solitude and respect for nature informs everything he does. "During my travels around the world, I observed that artists tend to form different schools - the New York school, the Düsseldorf school, and others, which often sets up a constant struggle to become relevant within the structure of the group. Early on I recognized that being isolated in communion with nature benefited my creative side, Benini noted. "We always picked a place where nature was predominant and my work was free to evolve, and that continues to this day."

Here in Houston, famous art patrons, Dominique and John de Menil, opened their private art museum, The Menil Collection in 1987. In addition to this world-class facility, they saluted the work of two artist friends in unique and different projects.

While it might not be entitled a museum per se, the Rothko Chapel in Houston embodies work solely by Mark Rothko. Fourteen commissioned mostly-dark paintings hang serenely in an octagonal-shaped chapel. The de Menils' intention for the chapel was, "to create opportunities for spiritual growth and dialogue that illuminate our shared humanity and lead to a world in which all are treated with dignity and respect.”

“It is the single-artist museum where the human element reigns.”

As lofty and sublime as the mission was, the construction of the chapel was troublesome and complex, involving four architects throughout a period of seven years. Despite its contentious beginning, the end result was transcendent. The multi-faith Rothko Chapel opened in February 1971 and was refreshed in 2021 with a $30 million renovation. Now open again, it is a revered space for quiet contemplation.

Undaunted by the extensive effort expended to establish the Rothko Chapel, the de Menils created yet another tribute to a single artist - Cy Twombly. After collecting Twombly's work, and planning a major exhibition, Dominique went to Rome to meet with the artist. According to William Middleton in his biography Double Vision, when Twombly opened the door of his palazzo apartment, she said, "Cy, we want to build a museum for you."

Walking distance from the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel, the 9300 square foot structure opened on February 10, 1995, with the artist in attendance amongst his works from 1954-1994. The art was displayed with no explanatory or curatorial remarks, just as Twombly and his benefactor preferred. In Dominique's words, "Perhaps only silence and love do justice to a great work of art.”

In this time of constant visual and electronic input, focusing on the work of a single artist is an opportunity to delvedeeply into an understanding of the process of one man or woman's artistic expression. The gift of this type of immersion is that it can, in and of itself, become a learning journey or simply, a contemplative process.

This may be what inspired New York artist Donald Judd to not only design vast spaces to display his own work at Chinati in Marfa, but also to adapt warehouses that showcased the work of his contemporaries John Chamberlain and Dan Flavin.

Upon arriving at this 340-acre destination in the Chihuahuan high desert, you are invited to immerse yourself in a number of distinct museum-quality spaces, each a monument to a single artist. The first to open to the public in 1983, was a 23.000 sq. ft. building dedicated to the work of John Chamberlain, where the artist and Judd curated 22 brightly painted chrome-plated sculptures donated to the project by the Dia Foundation.

Six buildings at Chinati also feature Dan Flavin's colorful large-scale fluorescent light compositions installed in 2000. Moving from one building to another evokes different light-enhanced moods, some hauntingly ethereal, others intense and powerful.

And then there is Judd's work. One hundred milled aluminum rectangular shapes line up with military precision in the vast spaces of a building that was formerly part of a huge military complex, once a holding station for German prisoners of war. Sunlight through many tall windows constantly impacts how the work is seen, creating stunning transformations not possible in tiny windowless exhibition spaces. While the Dia Foundation provided the millions that allowed him to purchase land and buildings in Marfa, Judd had the vision and the fortitude to create showcases focused on the work of one artist at a time.

These opportunities to experience the work of a single artist are in contrast to grand museum experiences like the Met that provide a survey of work through the ages where multiple "voices" call out from the paintings. Both have their merit and any art lover will find richness in each for sure. Yet it is the single-artist museum where the human element reigns, conveying a deep resonance of the life and career of the artist rather than simply presenting a work of art.