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Trained in literature and entrepreneurship, Rainey is the founder of Glasstire, the online magazine of visual art in Texas and the oldest online-only art magazine in the country. In 2019, she stepped down as publisher after over 18 years at the helm.

She is currently editing a book about the Rice Gallery and writing for magazines.

Rainey has spoken or written about arts journalism at Emory University, the USC Annenberg School, the El Paso Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, College Arts Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other places. She has also spoken about caregiving at Houston Methodist Hospital. She lives in Houston.

Trained in literature and entrepreneurship, Rainey is the founder of Glasstire, the online magazine of visual art in Texas and the oldest online-only art magazine in the country. In 2019, she stepped down as publisher after over 18 years at the helm.

She is currently editing a book about the Rice Gallery and writing for magazines.

Rainey has spoken or written about arts journalism at Emory University, the USC Annenberg School, the El Paso Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, College Arts Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other places. She has also spoken about caregiving at Houston Methodist Hospital. She lives in Houston.

Trained in literature and entrepreneurship, Rainey is the founder of Glasstire, the online magazine of visual art in Texas and the oldest online-only art magazine in the country. In 2019, she stepped down as publisher after over 18 years at the helm.

She is currently editing a book about the Rice Gallery and writing for magazines.

Rainey has spoken or written about arts journalism at Emory University, the USC Annenberg School, the El Paso Museum of Art, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, College Arts Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, and other places. She has also spoken about caregiving at Houston Methodist Hospital. She lives in Houston.

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Rainey Knudson

Mar 23, 20211 min read

Magritte Up High (191 words)

The MFAH has a bird painting by Magritte hung surprisingly high in their new Kinder building. I’m not a massive fan of the artist, but I love how weirdly high this painting is on the wall—it feels like the MFAH is daring us to make fun of their silly literalism. (Look! It’s a bird!)

I don’t traditionally associate a sense of play with the MFAH, and this feels playful and fun, which is something we all need.

Last week I visited MoMA in New York, where I stumbled onto this similarly-hung Magritte, the famous clouds-in-the-eye painting.

My inclination is to be disappointed at the thought that this is some trend, but I appreciate the fact that two museums about which I’ve had mixed feelings in the past have both introduced surprise and pleasure in their hangings, whether they came up with the idea themselves or stole is from somewhere else. They’ve softened me up towards an artist who, great painter or no, deserves the recognition he gets for his iconic imagery.

(And the Texan in me appreciates that the MFAH Magritte is more audaciously high on the wall than MoMA's.)

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