Houston's Rothko Chapel vandalized with paint, handbills: 'It's okay to be white'

Images of the Rothko Chapel on Saturday, May 19, 2018 Images of the Rothko Chapel on Saturday, May 19, 2018 Photo: Allyn West Photo: Allyn West Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Houston's Rothko Chapel vandalized with paint, handbills: 'It's okay to be white' 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

The Rothko Chapel — an inclusive space for prayer, meditation and introspection located near the Menil Collection in Montrose — was the target of what executive director David Leslie describes as a "hate incident" early Friday morning.

According to Leslie, white paint was spilled near the Chapel's entrance and in the reflection pool surrounding the Barnett Newman sculpture, "The Broken Obelisk," which is dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. Leslie also describes "handbills" strewn around the grounds and pool that read, "It's okay to be white."

"We have no idea who did it," he said. "We have no idea about the motivation."

Menil Collection security discovered the paint and handbills around 5:30 a.m., Leslie said. The Chapel turned in the handbills and filed a report with the Houston Police Department. An investigation is ongoing.

Leslie was quick to put the incident in larger context, stressing that it happened just hours before the school shooting at Santa Fe High School killed 10 people and wounded 13 others.

It was also not the first time the Chapel had been "subject to some type of vandalism," he said. "What happened is minor in the scope of things."

The Chapel closed temporarily Friday as staff and a team of supporters removed the "vandalism" and cleaned up the site. The Menil Conservation department explained in a statement that the paint was cleaned without the pool having to be drained. It appears that neither "The Broken Obelisk" nor the building sustained permanent damage.

Later that day, Leslie said, tables were set up outside the Chapel, and staff gathered on the plaza to "tell the story" to visitors that "we did have some vandalism."

"We wanted to continue to engage with neighbors and visitors," he said. "Our first response was to get open again as quickly as possible and not allow something like this to mute our message, mute our accessibility."

GRAY MATTERS: I didn't get the Rothko Chapel. Then I needed it.

As the Chapel opened again, visitors arrived Saturday morning as though nothing had happened. Gregg Bayne, who traveled from Los Angeles to see it, said, "I've wanted to come here since I first heard about in the '70s, when I was in college."

When he saw online Friday that the Chapel was "closed for maintenance," he said, "we came here this morning thinking we wouldn't see it."

Designed by Philip Johnson, Eugene Aubry and Howard Barnstone, the Chapel was founded by John and Dominique de Menil and opened in the early 1970s. Today, admission is free. A sign at the entrance reads that it is "a sacred space open to all people."

Inside, 14 murals painted by the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko hang on the walls. Outside, it sits adjacent to the pool and "The Broken Obelisk." Though Newman's sculpture was not originally meant to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., the de Menils offered to match a federal grant to buy it for the city in the late 1960s and recommended that it be dedicated as a memorial to him at City Hall.

After City Council rejected that offer, the sculpture ended up here, near the corner of Yupon and Branard streets.

Photo: handout / Houston Post files Dominique de Menil speaks at the dedication for Rothko Chapel in 1971.

Leslie stressed that he didn't feel that the Chapel was "alone." He acknowledged that "there's a strain of divisiveness" that can lead to places like the Chapel and other public, cultural and religious institutions being "vulnerable." He said, "It could happen again. There's always that fear. Is there something else coming?"

Rebecca Rabinow, the director of the Menil Collection, said in a statement that the museum "stands in solidarity with our neighbor the Rothko Chapel in condemning [the] vandalism ... . Like John and Dominique de Menil, our institutions' founders, the Menil is committed to a belief in the equality of all people, that art is essential to all people, and that free access to art elevates the human condition."

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Leslie said the Chapel is considering adding more cameras and other security measures. But he wants it to remain "being open to all," he said. "Part of our response is to keep on doing what we do every day."

The hope, he said, is that those responsible "will be caught and will come forward" and ask themselves the kinds of questions the Chapel and its programs mean to provoke. "What is the motivation for the act? What is it that caused you to do it? And what is it that needs to take place to figure out another way to look at the world?"

He concedes that "we may never get to that point. But that is the hope that I would have out of all this."

Allyn West edits and writes for Gray Matters. Find him on Twitter @allynwest or email him at allyn.west@chron.com.