BLAFFER ART MUSEUM REMAINS A FORCE IN LOCAL AND INTERNATIONAL ART SCENE AT 50 YEARS

The Blaffer Foundation eventually moved its paintings to the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, a move which helped the Blaffer stand on its own and adopt a Kunsthalle or non-collecting model. Over the years, the museum has hosted traveling shows like the first posthumous retrospective of Pablo Picasso’s work and the first Frida Kahlo exhibition in the U.S. since 1938. With the arrival of director Marti Mayo in 1986, the museum’s board voted to emphasize contemporary art and take on a stronger community presence. Following Mayo, Don Bacigalupi took the helm and organized the major exhibition of “Michael Ray Charles: An American Artist’s Work,” whose catalog won first prize at the American Association of Museums competition.

“We also instituted the Young Artists Apprenticeship Program, along with a scholarship for participating students, won the national Institute of Museum and Library Services federal grant, and inaugurated the first expansion of the Blaffer’s physical structure,” Bacigalupi said.

The Young Artists Apprenticeship Program went on to win a Coming Up Taller Award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 2009. Blaffer Curator of Education Katherine Veneman traveled to Washington D.C. with former YAAP student Jessica Flores to receive the award on behalf of the museum.

Terrie Sultan continued the Blaffer’s upward trajectory as director beginning in 2000. She said one of her greatest accomplishments was the first presentation of “Chuck Close Prints: Process and Collaboration.” The exhibition went on to tour more than 20 museums internationally following its run at the Blaffer. Notably, its second venue was the Metropolitan Museum of Art or “The Met.”

Following Sultan was Claudia Schmuckli who had joined the Blaffer staff in 2004 and was appointed director and chief curator in 2009. Under Schmuckli's leadership, the Blaffer underwent a major renovation that expanded exhibit spaces, provided greater accessibility to visitors by creating a welcoming, modern glass facade on the street side of the building and gave the courtyard a facelift, leading to a cafe and lounge area inside.

“The Blaffer has secured its niche in the pantheon of cultural institutions in Houston, and continues to extend its reach nationally,” Sultan said. “With the renovation and name change from Blaffer Gallery to Blaffer Art Museum under Claudia's leadership, the museum emphatically announced its focus and relevance. Current director Steven Matijcio has built on these successes and has created a fresh and inspiring approach to the museum's exhibitions, publications, educational enrichment and public programs. I see continued growth and opportunity for making Blaffer the jewel in the crown of Houston's contemporary art scene.” 

Matijicio joined the museum as director and chief curator in 2019 and hit the ground running by extending an invitation to artist-curators Mich Stevenson and j. bilhan to organize a program of performances in step with exhibition openings for Paul Mpagi Sepuya and Jacqueline Nova. Matijicio soon faced the prospect of leading a museum during a pandemic but took the challenge in stride by pivoting to a schedule of online programming. The Blaffer reopened in the fall of 2020 with robust shows by Rodney McMillian, Stephanie Syjuco and Simon Fujiwara.

So far, Matijcio feels most proud of infusing the museum programming with performances and pop-ups and steadily growing the audience year over year. “We have provided a platform for the first museum survey by artists such as Jamal Cyrus and Molly Zuckerman-Hartung,” he said. “We have received support from esteemed organizations like the Warhol, Brown and Kress foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. We’ve also developed a vibrant synergy with the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, as well as expanding the vehicles with which we can celebrate and advance the work of UH students.”