Luis and Cecilia Campos

HOUSTON, TEXAS–One of the significant collecting areas in Texas has been Latin American art, fueled by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, where influential curator Mari Carmen Ramírez has reigned since 2001. Consequently, some of America’s greatest private holdings of Latin-American art reside in Houston. Cue Dr. Luis and Cecilia Campos. Dr. Campos recalls the couple’s five-decade collecting trajectory, “We started in the early ’80s with figurative and more eclectic art, but we migrated toward geometric, kinetic, and conceptual works at the turn of this century. Later, we met Mari Carmen Ramírez and became involved in developing the collection of the MFAH as well as [our own].” Among the notable South American masters in the Campos Collection: Jesús Rafael Soto, Hélio Oiticica, Julio Le Parc, Joaquín Torres-García, Mira Schendel, and Gyula Kosice. “We particularly appreciate the work of [the late] Carlos Cruz-Diez — his color in motion, but even more, we love the artist, this petite man with the biggest heart and the best brain one could find,” Dr. Campos says.

ART:

Latin American masters Jesús Rafael Soto, Hélio Oiticica, Julio Le Parc, Joaquín Torres-García, Mira Schendel, Gyula Kosice, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Gregorio Vardanega, Roberto Matta; Josef Albers, Yayoi Kusama

CV:

Founding member of Latin Maecenas patron group at MFAH and past Latin American Experience Gala chair. “We met MFAH curator Mari Carmen Ramírez and became involved in developing the collection of the MFAH as well as [our own],” Dr. Campos says.