Marilyn Houlberg facts for kids
Marilyn Jensen Houlberg (born July 17, 1939 – died June 29, 2012) was a very talented person. She was a professor, an art historian, an anthropologist, and a photographer. Marilyn grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She traveled a lot, doing research on art and cultures in the Caribbean and western Africa. She is well-known for creating art shows about the religious art of Haitian Vodou. She also did important research on the culture of the Yoruba people in southwestern Nigeria. Her amazing photos and art collections are kept in different places across the United States. She was a Professor Emeritus of Art History at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She taught there for more than twenty years.
Marilyn's Education Journey
Marilyn Houlberg started her education at Wilbur Wright College, where she earned an Associate's degree. She then went to the University of Chicago. There, she earned two more degrees: a BFA in 1963 and a MAT in 1967. Later, she continued her studies at the University of London. In 1973, she earned a special degree called an MPhil. Her research for this degree was about Yoruba twin sculptures and their rituals. The next year, she came back to Chicago and began teaching at the School of the Art Institute.
Art Shows and Exhibitions
Marilyn started visiting Haiti in the 1960s. She helped put together many art shows featuring Haitian art in the U.S. and Haiti. Her work was very important for many popular shows and books about Haitian art.
One of her most famous shows was "Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou." She created this show with her friend Donald Cosentino. It opened at the Fowler Museum at UCLA in 1995. People loved it! The show then traveled to other big museums. These included the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Marilyn also helped with shows in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In 1999, "Creative Inspiration: The Arts of Haitian Vodou" opened at Le Musee d'Art Haitien du College Saint Pierre in Pétion-Ville. This museum also hosted "Haiti: Vodou Visionaries" in 2002. That show later traveled to Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago.
Marilyn worked with Donald Cosentino again at the Fowler Museum. She helped organize a show called In Extremis: Death and Life in 21st-Century Haitian Art. This show opened in September 2012, just three months after Marilyn Houlberg passed away.
Her Collections and Archives
Marilyn Houlberg's amazing art collections are kept in different places. The Marilyn Houlberg Collection at the Haitian Art Society has many artworks. These pieces show religious and spiritual themes from Haiti. They include pictures of lwa (spirits), saints, and ceremonies. Artists like Myrlande Constant, Evelyne Alcide, and Yves Telemaque are featured.
The Marilyn Houlberg Collection at the Indigo Arts Gallery in Philadelphia also has works by Haitian artists. It also includes sculptures from the Yoruba people.
You can find Marilyn's photographs at the Smithsonian Institution. Her collections about Nigeria and Haiti are part of the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives (EEPA). This is at the National Museum of African Art. These collections have color slides, prints, videos, audio recordings, and notes. They show people, places, cultures, and art practices. Marilyn created all this over her many years of work.
