Houston News: Sunday

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Houston skyscraper set for implosion Sunday

HOUSTON -- A big boom has been scheduled Sunday morning in Houston to bring down a 20-story building.

The former Prudential Life Insurance Building faces demolition.

The Houston Chronicle reported Friday that Prudential Insurance Co. commissioned architect Kenneth Franzheim to design a stylish regional headquarters.

The skyscraper, on the current Texas Medical Center campus, opened in 1952. New Jersey-based Prudential sold the building in 1975.

The structure is being razed to make way for new facilities.

A $4 million ranch life mural by artist Peter Hurd, called "The Future Belongs To Those Who Prepare for It," has been removed from the building and will be part of a public library in Artesia, N.M.

Hurd, who died in 1984, once had a studio in Artesia.

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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Helmut Newton exhibit set to open Sunday at MFAH

HOUSTON -- An exhibit of works by fashion photographer Helmut Newton is set to open this weekend in Houston.

The exhibit opening Sunday at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston includes all of the photographs from his first three books. More than 200 photographs from the books will be on display through Sept. 25.

The museum said in a news release that "Helmut Newton: White Women, Sleepless Nights, Big Nudes" is the first large-scale U.S. exhibition of Newton's work. The exhibit takes its name from the titles of the first three books.

Helmut Newton, whose work appeared in magazines including Playboy, Elle and Vogue, is best known for his stark, black-and-white nude photos of women. He died at the age of 83 in 2004 after a car crash in Los Angeles.