Moody Center for the Arts Opening Reception

In the spring of 2021, the Moody Center for the Arts is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Rothko Chapel by presenting a unique group exhibition.

Artists and the Rothko Chapel: 50 Years of Inspiration will highlight 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.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, which will include new installation images, interviews and contributions by the artists featured in the exhibition, as well as testimonies by local figures, reflecting on the Rothko Chapel and the arts at Rice. The catalogue is distributed by Yale University Press and will be available in March 2021. 

The Moody Center for the Arts will organize a series of interdisciplinary programs around the exhibition, which will take place in tandem with the Rothko Chapel’s 50th Anniversary celebrations in the spring of 2021.