0.27 Robert morris, b. 1933  (Page 2/3)

There was a show called The Ugly Show. [Don and I] were talking and he said, “There are so many ugly things in this world…why should we always be showing what we consider to be beautiful things?” So he said, “Let’s show some of these ugly things because we can teach a lesson.” So he and I went around town to look for something like an ugly piece of furniture, and he had all kinds of ideas about it. He [managed to find]an army helmet [that] was pretty ugly…and there was a huge box of laundry soap—just all kinds of kitschy things. It got a lot of attention, and it got a lot of bad comments. At that time, there was a big communist hunt, witch hunt, going on, and there were “minutemen” and “minutewomen” who would come into museums and other institutions, to check out the libraries and see if there was anything subversive in there. And we had people actually come here. I think we had a plastic American flag in The Ugly Show, so this “minuteman” guy was going to have us all closed down. He sort of went stomping out. Nothing ever came of it. But it was that sort of very conservative period. I think the board was always a little worried that we would overstep and go too far and offend too many.

[Back then] if someone gave us something we were grateful. We didn’t have much of a budget so were not really out there collecting, as I remember. We had a small collection. There was a Joseph Cornell in my office that the de Menils had donated—I think they probably took it back at some point in the future. We had a very small collection and I think we kept a few things from the various competitions that we put on annually.

[Our membership] was pretty much from all over. I would say there were people who were terribly interested in art because it was a small museum. I mean it wasn’t like the MFA now where they have big programs and everything. It was “clan-ish.” I mean, the artists and the people who were interested in it and collectors and the board [were]interesting people. We wanted people who would throw themselves into it and volunteer and help out and show up and proselytize and, you know, make people think about art. That’s why we were doing The Ugly Show…throw sand in their faces, you know, just kind of get them thinking.

I had to go and speak [on behalf of CAA], PR sort of stuff. God, I spoke at high schools and Kiwanis Club things, and frankly, I began to get a little tired of it after a while. And the board meetings were a little bit taxing because you know, they had their own priorities, and they didn’t always agree on things. But actually John [de Menil]stayed on the board even after [Dominique] had left…and he seemed perfectly fine. He didn’t get rude with me or anything like that. He was very nice.

Meanwhile, locally…

It was a pretty small art scene, it seemed to me. I mean, the gallery I was with was Polly Marsters gallery, Houston Artists Gallery. And I think it was on Main Street so you couldn’t quite miss it. At the time we were living on Caroline, right near the Museum of Fine Arts. So there’s Polly, and she seemed like a wonderful woman—was, in fact. And as I showed her my little pathetic stuff she said, “Oh, I’d love to show your work,” and so I had at least one show with her, maybe two. I can’t quite remember. I knew of Kathryn Swenson and her gallery, and that was I think a little bit more, shall I say, upscale. It was in a different part of town, over San Felipe or near that. Jim Love was showing there, I think, and it was nice space. And other galleries…I guess Meredith Long was there, but I just never quite connected with him. And the David Gallery.