Houston Center for Photography

Well, I was at the Station Museum (1502 Alabama), and I needed to get to the PetSmart at Alabama and Shepherd (or the cat was going to go hungry). The Menil just happened to be between those two points. Surely I could pop in and look at the new Joseph Cornell boxes on display as well as Wayne Thiebaud's Delicatessen Counter, 1962, which they have not displayed in years. But, the Houston Center for Photography (HCP) is right next to the Menil, and it made much more sense to stop there.

Short, lunchtime visits to museums are not the most conducive to a thorough and contemplative appreciation of the exhibits, but they can give you the lay of the land. And if there is a work you want to spend more time with, you can always come back. For unknown reasons, I have not really cared for photography as art, which is why I have not visited HCP before. The Menil and MFAH routinely display photographs, however, so I have gradually been gaining an appreciation for photography.

I was pleasantly surprised that I enjoyed all of the exhibits (and my visit on June 15 was timed perfectly since the exhibits closed four days later). The largest exhibit was "Teenagers: Portraits of Identity and Expression." Martine Fougeron's photos of her two teenage sons made me glad that I did not have an artistic mother to record the process of growing up. While many of the photos were innocuous (the boys reading a book or getting a haircut), others were of a more intimate nature. Works by Bryan Schutmaat and Kendrick Brinson were in another gallery, and another area was devoted to works of local high school students.

While enjoying the photographs, I had an epiphany: most of the works I liked were portraits. I knew subconsciously that for pre-impressionistic art, I strongly favored portraits, followed by still lifes, with landscapes far behind (so I dislike almost all paintings by the Hudson River School). Since I have really never associated photography with painting, I did not get the connection. This also explains my strong dislike for the photos of Ansel Adams, whose landscape and nature photographs were immensely popular when I was young.

HCP had a great layout, with galleries that felt both cozy and spacious. They also had a digital dark room area and a great library for visitors to use. I felt a bit concerned about the gentleman who was going to appear in my photo of the library, but I then thought: "He's in a center for photography, he probably expects me to take his photo."

The John Cleary Library at HCP

There were several other interesting things about HCP: Most of the photos were for sale with a price list easily available (prices ranged from $100 for student works up to $5,000). Also, they used QR Codes extensively on their brochures and placards. I have wondered whether QR Codes will fizzle or take off, and it was nice to see them used beyond the magazine ads that I have primarily seen them in. The next time I'm at the Menil, I will have to make time to walk across the street and see what is going on HCP.