In a buying spree that lasted just half a decade, John R. Eckel Jr. built a collection of Modernist furniture and paintings that museums craved. Mr. Eckel, a Houston energy tycoon who died in 2009, focused on a few American designers and artists, including Paul Evans, Harry Bertoia and Edward Wormley.

Before his death at 58, Mr. Eckel told colleagues that his hundreds of pieces should be used to benefit the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

On Saturday the Houston museum plans to unveil about 70 objects in “The Spirit of Modernism: The John R. Eckel Jr. Foundation Gift to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.” (The foundation is giving about two dozen artworks to the Whitney, including Los Angeles photos by Ed Ruscha, and Bertoia bundles of copper strands.)

In Houston, Bertoia metal spires up to 12 feet tall will tower over Evans cabinets fronted in a patchwork of steel and slate, and a triangular Wormley table inlaid with Tiffany glass tiles.