Dominique de Ménil

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dominique de Ménil

Dominique de Ménil (born May 10, 1908 in Paris as Dominique Schlumberger ; † December 31, 1998 in Houston , Texas ) was the heiress of Schlumberger , the world's largest oil exploration company, and a well-known collector of contemporary American painting .

biography

Dominique Schlumberger was the youngest daughter of the French geophysicist and geologist Conrad Schlumberger (1878-1936), a son of Paul Schlumberger (1846-1926) and his wife Marguerite de Witt (1853-1924). She grew up in France. She later studied mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne . On May 9, 1931, she married the French nobleman Jean (John) de Ménil (1904–1973) in Paris, and their marriage resulted in five children, Christophe, Adelaide, Georges , François and Philippa.

In 1941 the couple emigrated from occupied France to New York via England . Alexander Iolas motivated Dominique de Ménil to set up an art collection and made her aware of the work of the Surrealists.

What is now the world's largest private art collection was later made accessible to the public by the Menil Collection . In addition to African and European art, there were also contemporary American artists, including Jackson Pollock , Barnett Newman , Clyfford Still , Cy Twombly , Robert Motherwell , Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko . Dominique de Ménil founded the Carter-Menil Human Rights Foundation with the then US President Jimmy Carter . Since 1986 the Carter Menil Award is bestowed for special merits. The award is 100,000 US dollars doped.

Award

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pamela G. Smart: Sacred Modern: Faith, Activism, and Aesthetics in the Menil Collection, p. 75.
personal data
SURNAME Ménil, Dominique de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schlumberger, Dominique (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American art patron of French origin
DATE OF BIRTH May 10, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1998
Place of death Houston