BAYOU BEND: Museum of Decorative Arts
Bayou Bend is the MFAH [museum of fine arts, houston] house museum for
American decorative arts and paintings. It has a FREE family day on the 3rd Sunday of every month Oct-May, 12 noon to 5 PM when the garden is free to roam in and the first floor can be seen by a free guided tour. [upper floor is always ticketed].
There are crafts being taught for kids, a music band playing, petting zoos of farm animals and cookies, pretzels, lemon juice are available on inviting tables. We visit it every month on the family day and have a great time.
June-Sep are baking hot with the Texas sun beating down too hard for family days to be held.
June-Sep are baking hot with the Texas sun beating down too hard for family days to be held.
Displayed in the former home
of Houston civic leader and philanthropist Ima Hogg (1882–1975),
the collection showcases American
furnishings, silver, ceramics, and paintings
The
house is situated on 14 acres of organically maintained gardens in
Houston’s historic River Oaks neighborhood.
Ima was the First lady of Texas. a society leader. YES, The combo of her names leads to funny connotations and there are jokes that she had a sister URA HOGG... to go with IMA HOGG...[ I'm a hog, you are a hog].
She was the daughter of the Governor of Texas, her mother contracted tuberculosis and died in 1895, when Ima was 13 years old. Ima had cared for her and her aunt believed Ims had also contracted TB.The aunt advised Ima not to marry as she may pass on TB to her kids. Ima never married.
Ima had 2 brothers, one who died young, the other also died issueless.
An interesting episode...in 1898, 16 yr old Ima accompanied her father to Hawaii; they met Hawaiian Queen Liliʻuokalani and watched the ceremony that delivered Hawaii to the United States.
The two were scheduled to sail to Seattle, but Ima refused to board the ship because she "had an awful feeling". He relented and they instead sailed to California, where they learned that their original ship had been lost at sea with no survivors
In 1918, oil was struck in one of their plantations and they had an income of $22500 a month [equivalent to $3.3 million currently]. Ima felt the money was not theirs as they had not earned it and so indulged in a lot of philanthropy.
Ima was the First lady of Texas. a society leader. YES, The combo of her names leads to funny connotations and there are jokes that she had a sister URA HOGG... to go with IMA HOGG...[ I'm a hog, you are a hog].
She was the daughter of the Governor of Texas, her mother contracted tuberculosis and died in 1895, when Ima was 13 years old. Ima had cared for her and her aunt believed Ims had also contracted TB.The aunt advised Ima not to marry as she may pass on TB to her kids. Ima never married.
Ima had 2 brothers, one who died young, the other also died issueless.
An interesting episode...in 1898, 16 yr old Ima accompanied her father to Hawaii; they met Hawaiian Queen Liliʻuokalani and watched the ceremony that delivered Hawaii to the United States.
The two were scheduled to sail to Seattle, but Ima refused to board the ship because she "had an awful feeling". He relented and they instead sailed to California, where they learned that their original ship had been lost at sea with no survivors
In 1918, oil was struck in one of their plantations and they had an income of $22500 a month [equivalent to $3.3 million currently]. Ima felt the money was not theirs as they had not earned it and so indulged in a lot of philanthropy.
.
We cross the bridge across the Buffalo Bayou after parking our car and enter the gardens
To put things in perspective, there is always plenty of crowd milling around...
Bayou Bend is the first historic public garden in Texas to practice organic gardening, which was initiated in 2001
Houston philanthropist and collector Ima Hogg began collecting American works of art in the 1920s and embarked on a building project that would provide a fitting home for the collection.
The residence was completed in 1928. Hogg deeded Bayou Bend to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in 1957, and it opened to the public as a house museum in 1966. Today, more than 2,500 objects are on display in 28 room settings and galleries. The collection comprises objects made or used in the United States between 1620 and 1876, including furniture, paintings, sculpture, prints, ceramics, glass, metals, and textiles.
Murphy Room
Completed in 1959, the Murphy Room was named for Ima Hogg’s friend and fellow collector, Katharine Murphy, who advised on creating the room.
The painted, black-and-white checkerboard floor was inspired by the ones seen in late-17th-century Boston portraits. The art on view in this room includes the oldest objects in the Bayou Bend Collection, from the Late Renaissance (1620–90) and Early Baroque (1690–1730) periods.
Massachusetts Room
The dramatic blue hue of the Massachusetts Room’s walls was inspired by a piece of 18th-century Portuguese chintz, a type of colorful textile. The room’s selection of sophisticated Salem and Boston furniture includes a rare, complete suite of a double chair-backed settee and eight matching side chairs, all upholstered in brilliant yellow wool.
Pine Room
Originally a library, the Pine Room was once lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. When Ima Hogg was preparing the home to become a public museum, she covered the shelves with new pine paneling patterned after mid-18th-century woodwork that she admired in a period room installed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (now in the Hogg Family Legacy Room at the Lora Jean Kilroy Visitor and Education Center).
Today, the Pine Room displays many objects in the Early Baroque style (1690–1730), including a high chest of drawers made by skilled cabinetmakers and distinguished portraits that retain their original carved frames.
Drawing Room
The largest space in the house, the Drawing Room reflects the Georgian architecture of mid-18th-century American interiors and displays furniture designed in the Rococo style (1755–90). The portraits in this room were painted by distinguished early American artists
Philadelphia Hall
A 1971 portrait of Ima Hogg presides over the wide central hall that leads to a terrace and to the lush gardens. The Philadelphia Hall's Rococo-style furniture was made in ....?? Philadelphia... duh?
The curving staircase may have been inspired by a similar one in the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, where she lived as a child when her father, James Stephen Hogg, served as governor from 1891 to 1895. She and her brothers would sometimes slide down the banister for fun, and when her youngest brother, Tom, broke his arm doing so, Governor Hogg hammered nails down the banister to discourage their games!
Dining Room
Rooms specially designated for dining did not exist in the United States until after the American Revolution. Even then, only the wealthy could afford the rooms since they required new, extravagant furniture forms such as the sideboard, which was used for displaying and storing tableware.
The Dining Room’s shimmering, gold-leaf canvas wall covering is hand painted with peonies, Texas dogwood branches, and garden creatures such as field mice and butterflies.
Chillman Suite
With vibrant greens and golds, the Chillman Suite brings to life the classical taste so popular in the United States in the first half of the 19th century. The wall-to-wall carpeting was reproduced from a period example.
The Chillman Suite, which includes a foyer and parlor, is named in honor of interior decorator Dorothy Chillman—wife of James H. Chillman, Jr., the first director of the Museum—who helped Ima Hogg develop Bayou Bend’s period rooms during the 1950s and 1960s.
Belter Parlor
The furnishings in the Belter Parlor reflect the Rococo Revival style (1845–70). The parlor takes its name from John Henry Belter, a cabinetmaker who was a leading manufacturer in New York City during the 1850s. Belter’s factory made the matching set of furniture that is on view in the room.
In 1971, Ima Hogg completed the Belter Parlor, the last of her room installations. The furnishings reflect a strict adherence to historical accuracy; the wallpaper is based on fragments of French wallpaper used at a home in Salisbury, Connecticut, and the carpet is a reproduction of an English design from the Rococo Revival period.
These are the rooms in the 1st floor which is always ticketed
RIENZI HOUSE MUSEUM OF EUROPEAN DECORATIVE ARTS:
Rienzi is situated on four acres of
wooded gardens, in the
historic River Oaks neighborhood. Formerly the home of
philanthropists Carroll Sterling Masterson and Harris Masterson III,
Rienzi was designed in
1952.
Opened to the public in 1999, Rienzi
houses a substantial collection of European decorative arts,
including paintings, furnishings, porcelain, and extensive holdings
of miniatures.
A vintage coach plies between Bayou Bend and Rienzi
There are a variety of tours,
family programs, lectures, concerts, and special events,
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