Filming the Rothko Chapel: A Conversation with Francois de Menil and David Leslie

Zoom Event
Wednesday, March 31, 6pm CT
Organized by Moody Center for the Arts at Rice University, in partnership with the Menil Collection and the Rothko Chapel

This special event coincided with the virtual screening of the short version of Francois de Menil's documentary "The Rothko Chapel" (1972), including an interview with the Chapel's founders, Dominique and John de Menil.

The screening was followed by a conversation between Francois de Menil, renowned architect and son of Dominique and John de Menil, and David Leslie, executive director of the Rothko Chapel, moderated by Frauke V. Josenhans, Associate Curator at the Moody Center for the Arts. The discussion was centered on the challenges of filming the non-denominational space, and both speakers evoked the emotional and transcendental power of the Chapel as well as its humanistic vocation.

This program is a part of the Moody Center for the Arts' celebratory exhibition Artists and the Rothko Chapel: 50 Years of Inspiration, which highlights the extraordinary impact the Rothko Chapel has had on both artists and the public since opening in 1971. Organized in two sections, the first part will restage the 1975 exhibition Marden, Novros, Rothko: Painting in the Age of Actuality organized at Rice University by Harris Rosenstein and supported by Dominique de Menil. This presentation will be the first time the works by Brice Marden and David Novros will be reunited since 1975, recreating the immersive experience that viewers had upon first seeing them installed at Rice. The second section looks to the future, highlighting works by contemporary artists of diverse ages, nationalities and backgrounds - Sam Gilliam, Sheila Hicks, Shirazeh Houshiary, and Byron Kim - as a means of exploring the wide-reaching influence of the non-denominational Chapel, and how its legacy has manifested through various media and aesthetics. This exhibition is curated by Frauke V. Josenhans, Associate Curator, Moody Center for the Arts. The exhibition is on view February 16-May 15, 2021.

Photo credit Hickey-Robertson.