In addition to the museum’s vast collections showcasing art from the ancient world, to Impressionist masterpieces, to contemporary and Latin American art, these exhibitions (and more!) are now on view:

 

Modern and Contemporary Masterworks from Malba - Fundación Costantini

On view through August 5, 2012

 

Tarsila do Amaral, Abaporu, 1928, oil on canvas, Malba - Fundación Costantini, Buenos Aires. © Tarsilo do Amaral Empreendimentos

The MFAH hosts an exclusive loan exhibition of masterworks from one of the most important arts and cultural institutions in Latin America: Malba - Fundación Costantini in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Paintings by some of the region’s best-known artists—including Frida Kahlo, Wifredo Lam, and Diego Rivera—travel to Houston for the first time, along with the work of landmark artists new to U.S. audiences.

 

Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics: The Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection

On view through June 3, 2012

 

Aoki Katsuyo, Predictive Dream, 2005, porcelain, the MFAH, Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection, gift of Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio. © 2006 Aoki Katsuyo

New York-based scholars and gallerists Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio have been leaders in the ceramics field for three decades, assembling one of the most important private collections of contemporary ceramics in the world. In 2007, the MFAH acquired the Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio Collection of some 475 artworks, as well as the accompanying library and artist archive. Shifting Paradigms presents nearly 160 objects—ceramics and works on paper—from this richly diverse collection.

 

Elegance and Refinement: The Still-Life Paintings of Willem van Aelst

On view through May 28, 2012

 

Willem van Aelst, Still Life with Fruit, Walnuts, and Insects on a Marble Ledge, 1670, oil on canvas, private collection.

 

Seventeenth-century Dutch artist Willem van Aelst painted still lifes that are remarkable for their fine finish, carefully balanced composition, elegant subject matter, and rich, jewel-toned palette. Elegance and Refinement is an unprecedented exhibition of more than 25 paintings that celebrate the exquisite work of a neglected master who had a significant impact on late-17th-century still-life painting.

 

Eye on Third Ward 2012: Jack Yates High School Photography

On view through May 28, 2012

 

Ivon Rico, Music Is Life, 2011, chromogenic print, collection of the artist.

 

Eye on Third Ward showcases photographs by students in the Magnet School of Communications at Jack Yates High School. Since 1995, photography classes at Yates have focused on Houston’s Third Ward neighborhood, and select images are presented in the annual Eye on Third Ward exhibitions at the MFAH. 

 

Snail Mail

On view through May 20, 2012

 

Greta Pratt, Untitled, 1996, gelatin silver print, the MFAH, gift of the artist. © Greta Pratt

 

Snail Mail, a focused installation of photo correspondence from the MFAH collection, features objects that were, until recently, a common phenomenon in the photographic community. Before widespread use of e-mail, photographers would write letters on the backs of misprints or even fine-art quality objects. The MFAH photography collection contains more than 1,500 such objects that have been mailed to museum staff throughout the years as correspondence from photographers around the world.