Cy Twombly Gallery: The Menil Collection, Houston

This elegant book, in addition to beautifully rendered documentation of the gallery’s collection of “the freest, most open work ever created,” includes an evocative photographic tour of the gallery, which opened in 1995, and two illuminating essays about its establishment. The first, by Paul Winkler, Menil’s then-director, discusses American painter and sculptor Twombly’s (1928–2011) collaboration in the gallery’s design, including facsimiles of the artist’s ballpoint letters with sketches of proposed proportions and shapes. Architect Renzo Piano’s design process featured lighting through a roof with a “series of light-filtering planes” that create a “sensation akin to levitation.” The second essay, by conservator Carol Mancusi-Ungaro, depicts the intimate process of restoring art works to Twombly’s wishes, illuminating the contrast between conservative restorer and spontaneous artist. In the foreword, Josef Helfenstein, director of the Menil Collection, says about Twombly, “The space he had created for himself was indeed remarkable: a space that allowed him to carry out his life and his art as an alternative to what we might call reality.” This extraordinary gallery gives the public a means to enter that space, and for readers unable to visit it in person, the book gives an enthralling glimpse into Twombly’s idiosyncratic world. 109 color illus. (May)