Jermayne MacAgy

Houston (1914-1964): A brilliant innovator in museum education and exhibition design, MacAgy was brought to Houston by John and Dominique de Menil as the first professional director of what is now the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Renowned for mounting shows that were both scholarly and alluring to the public, MacAgy put Houston on the art-world map and influenced a young Walter Hopps (founding director of The Menil Collection) when he saw one of her early shows at San Francisco’s California Palace of the Legion of Honor. Above all, MacAgy profoundly transformed Houstonthrough her impact on the de Menils. They memorialized her untimely death by commissioning the Rothko Chapel and a series of Warhol portraits; the innovative curator/museum director is buried next to the de Menils at Forest Park Lawndale.