Fragility

Fragility is open now at The Menil Drawing Institute, running from September 10, 2026, through January 24, 2027. It's a show that makes paper the subject rather than just the surface: its delicate yet resilient, incongruous and variable characteristics as an artistic material. More than sixty works are on view, including drawings made by piercing, abrading, stitching and burning, alongside paper sculptures and found papers that bring a sense of history and place to the pieces.

There's a lot of ground to cover across the artists. Lee Krasner, a relentless critic of her own work, often destroyed her drawings only to reconstitute them as abstract collages. The Czech artist Adriena Šimotová, working at the height of Cold War censorship, layered tissue paper into sculptures by pressing and smoothing the material against her own body. Ann Hamilton's collaborative work poche (2014) stitched soft wool between sheets of handmade paper to rethink the pocket as both storage and protection for the body. And Zarina punctured paper with a needle to mourn the loss of her husband and her native India.

If you want to hear from the artists themselves, there are two public programs scheduled. Ann Hamilton will give a reading on Thursday, November 5, from 7 to 8 PM, and Jim Hodges will lead an artist talk on Thursday, December 3, also from 7 to 8 PM. Both are open to the public.

The Menil Drawing Institute, established in 2008 in a Johnston Marklee building that opened in 2018, is the only standalone facility in the United States dedicated to the exhibition, research, conservation and storage of modern and contemporary drawings. Admission is free, and the show runs through January 24.