Menil by Moonlight Shows Another Side of the Houston Museum Treasure, Showcases the ‘Best Woman Painter in America’

What: “Menil by Moonlight”

Where: The Menil Collection

PC Moment: More than 350 museum members gathered for a preview of the exhibition Janet Sobel: All-Over, which was curated by Natalie Dupêcher, associate curator of Modern Art at The Menil. The Ukrainian-born American artist, a mother of five, came to prominence in the 1940s in a meteoric rise as one of the first Abstract Expressionist artists. The collection is on display through August 11.

Art lovers perused some 30 paintings and drawings by the artist who was once dubbed, by renowned collector Peggy Guggenheim, as “the best woman painter by far (in America).”

Len Sobel, one of the artist’s grandsons and a Houstonian, gifted the Menil a few of her works in 2020 which then became the impetus for creating the exhibition.

The family enthusiastically welcomed the museum’s exhibition and a few lent additional works to the show. In fact, a dozen members of Sobel’s extended family, including her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren flew in from across the country — from Maryland, California, Rhode Island and New York to attend.

The Menil at Sunset

The special event for Menil Collection members began near sunset for a visually dramatic start to the evening with cocktails served beneath festive lights on the Menil campus in Montrose where Studio 64 provided a lively soundtrack to the festivities. Inside the museum Bergner & Johnson decorated with florals featuring purple alliums and maroon orchids, others created from purple mums, white snap dragons and lilac roses.

Jackson & Company provided hors d’oeuvres of sweet potato with avocado salpicon, herb-stuffed mushrooms, Tiger Cries beef skewers with cilantro lime sauce and grilled rosemary chicken with parmesan on a sliced toasted baguette. Desserts included fruit tarts, raspberry red velvet cake bites, blondies and double chocolate chip cookies.

PC Seen: The Menil Collection director Rebecca Rabinow, board of trustees president Doug Lawing, Isabel and Ransom Lummis, Lidiya Gold, Henrietta Alexander, Sarah Balinskas, Bob Ackerley, Chris Goins and Josh Pazda, Jacquelyn Barish, Lee Huber, Paula Daly, Azie Aziz, Victoria Salem, and Anne Tucker.