William Middleton | Double Vision: The Unerring Eye of Art World Avatars Dominique and John de Menil.
The Watermill Center’s Summer Lecture Series engages with the local community through intriguing dialogue and creative collaboration across disciplines.
William Middleton is a journalist and editor who has worked in New York and Paris. He has been the Fashion Features Director for Harper’s Bazaar and the Paris Bureau Chief for Fairchild Publications, overseeing W Magazine and Women’s Wear Daily. He has written for The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, Vogue, House & Garden, Esquire, Texas Monthly, Travel & Leisure, Departures, and the International Herald Tribune.
Dominique and John de Menil created an oasis of culture in their Philip Johnson-designed house with everyone from Marlene Dietrich and René Magritte to Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns. In Houston, they built the Menil Collection, the Rothko Chapel, the Byzantine Fresco Chapel, the Cy Twombly Gallery, and underwrote the Contemporary Arts Museum.
Now, with unprecedented access to family archives, William Middleton has written a sweeping biography of this unique couple. From their ancestors in Normandy and Alsace, to their own early years in France, and their travels in South America before settling in Houston. We see them introduced to the artists in Europe and America whose works they would collect, and we see how, by the 1960s, their collection had grown to include 17,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, rare books, and decorative objects.
And here is, as well, a vivid behind-the-scenes look at the art world of the twentieth century and the enormous influence the de Menils wielded through what they collected and built and through the causes they believed in.
Members of The Watermill Center receive free admission for one throughout our 2018 Summer Lecture Series and an invitation to a members only summer cocktail party in August. If you have not yet received the lecture series discount code, please email membership@watermillcenter.org. Click here for more information about membership at The Watermill Center and to join today!
The Summer Lecture Series is curated by Robert Wilson and administered & co-curated by Kelly Dennis and Brian O’Mahoney.
The Watermill Center is committed to providing accessible programs and services for all patrons and artists with disabilities. For further information about any accessibility issues or needs, please contact us at +1 631 726 4525 or email us at info@watermillcenter.org
photo © Tim Walker
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