Francis Bacon: Late Paintings - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - A Tour with Alison de Lima Greene, Didier Ottinger Centre Pompidou

Francis Bacon, Triptych August 1972, 1972, oil and sand on canvas, Tate. © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. / DACS, London / ARS, NY 2019

"...Conceivably it served Bacon for Dyer to be wasted in the Paris hotel room..." (Virginia Billeaud Anderson - BoudinandBourbon.com previews the exhibition Francis Bacon: Late Paintings with MFAH curator Alison de Lima Greene, and Centre Pompidou’s Didier Ottinger.)

A Few Words About "Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol" from the Natural Portrait Gallery, London" at MFAH

Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Henry VIII,
1540, oil on wood, Palazzo Barberini, Rome

"..One easily imagines Henry glittering in the torch light at Whitehall Palace..." (I was invited to preview the exhibition “Tudors to Windsors: British Royal Portraits from Holbein to Warhol,” from the National Portrait Gallery, London, at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Here is fun background to some of the show's portraits.)

Oscar de la Renta’s Blue Velvet Gown - The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta - Museum of Fine Arts Houston - Essay

Oscar de la Renta, Custom Evening Ensemble,2001, silk taffeta
and silk satin,courtesy of Oscar de la Renta Archive (worn by Mica
Ertegun to an event celebrating her 40th wedding anniversary 
to Ahmet Ertegun, 2001). © Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

"...Unseemly pantie lines visible through ill-fitting garments are all it takes for me to call up Diana Vreeland’s pronouncement that fashion must be intoxicating release from the world’s banality..."(Virginia Billeaud Anderson attended the media preview of The Glamour and Romance of Oscar de la Renta at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and met André Leon Talley who guest-curated the exhibition along with co-curator Cindi Strauss. She asked Alex Bolen, CEO of Oscar de la Renta, a few questions.)

My Preview of Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950 at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Raúl Martínez, “9 Repetitions of Fidel with
Microphones” 1968, Oil on canvas,
 Wallace Campbell Collection, Jamaica

"...his guerrillas liberated them from that fire squad-happy despot Batista, who..." (Virginia Billeaud Anderson discusses a couple of artworks in the the exhibition Adiós Utopia: Dreams and Deceptions in Cuban Art Since 1950 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, co-organized by the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros foundation.)

“Emperors' Treasures: Chinese Art from the National Palace Museum, Taipei” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - Essay

Gold Bowl Used Personally by the Qianlong Emperor,
Qing dynasty, reign of the Qianlong emperor, 1735–96,
gold, National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Image © National Palace Museum



"...one in his entourage must have thought I needed a history lesson. “Taiwan not China!”..."

Joe Havel - The Front Man: Questions for Joe Havel - Interview

Joe Havel with Hanna, Summer 2015

“happy to do the interview,” Joe Havel told me, and immediately sent me a “portrait” of his bird Hanna. (Virginia Billeaud Anderson interviews Joseph Havel about his art.)

Aesthetic Truth: Notes on Empress Eugénie - Previewed Franz Winterhalter Portrait Exhibition - Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

Franz X. Winterhalter, Empress Eugénie,
(Wedding Portrait,) (Copy) oil on canvas

"...Eugénie produced the required male heir, with the Pope as god-father, then nagged her cheating husband into expanding the Empire..." (Inspired by Franz Winterhalter's portrait of Empress Eugénie, Virginia Billeaud Anderson discusses Eugénie's aesthetically elevated taste in fashion, jewels and decor, as well as her ambition.)