Collector was a ‘patron saint’ of Houston arts
A curator and a collector, a patron and a donor, Clint Willour served as a beloved giving tree in Houston’s art scene for nearly half a century.
A monetary figure could never be placed on what Willour gave to the city through his selfless support of rising artists and beloved institutions, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Willour’s time as director and curator of Galveston Arts Center, prompted former Chronicle art critic Molly Glentzer to describe him as “one of the biggest patron saints of Texas artists for 25 years.”
The statement wasn’t hyperbole. Willour curated some 4,000 artists across 469 exhibits over 26 years, the Galveston Arts Center estimated. His donations to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, exceeded 1,000 works. He also donated 2,500 books to MFAH’s Hirsch Library.
After a few years of poor health, including two cancer diagnoses and heart surgery, Willour died this week at 79, leaving behind an astounding legacy that will benefit the city for years.
Glentzer’s profile of Willour in 2018 presented a contrast to the notion of an art collector as a person of means. He claimed to have never earned more than $45,000 in a year, and said he never spent more than $1,500 on any single piece. Willour
wasn’t precious about what he collected either, often gifting works to museums.
“I never really thought of myself as a collector in the same way a lot of people think of themselves as collectors,” he told the Chronicle in 2018. “I was a facilitator or something, a go-between. It was like we shopped together.”
Because he worked in a gallery, he knew something new would always capture his eye. “I was working in a gallery,” he said. “I knew I’d get more.”
Willour made the decision in the late 1960s to relocate to Houston, where he worked in the carpet business before serving as an art buyer for architect Marvin Watson. When Watson decided to open his own gallery with Tibor de Nagy, a New York-based art dealer, in 1973, Willour worked as the gallery’s business manager. Willour learned from de Nagy, who’d been in the art business for 20 years.
“I literally learned the business by osmosis,” Willour told the Chronicle. “I wasn’t an artist. I didn’t know diddly.”
He followed a sharp learning curve, and de Nagy later made him director of the Watson/de Nagy Gallery. Willour was just 32.
During this time, Willour began to focus on art created close to his new home. By focusing on Texas artists, he was able to acquire pieces without having to work with other dealers. Willour and de Nagy became a conduit between local and regional artists and collectors in Houston with the means to buy pieces pricier than Willour’s budget would allow him to buy himself.
When the Watson Gallery, as it was renamed, closed in the late 1980s, Willour began to work at Galveston Arts Center, where he’d stay a quarter-century.
Even early in his life Willour had a tendency to move his acquisitions to museums within Houston and beyond. Over the years, he gifted works to the Menil Collection, Portland Art Museum, Seattle Art Museum and — in a tip to his early days as an admirer and collector — the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington.
“I thought, why not share this? I’ve got plenty,” he told the Chronicle. “We always laugh and say a collector is someone who’s got as many things under the bed as on the walls. That’s where I was: My walls were full, and I had lots of other stuff.”
His eye for photography led Willour to assist the MFAH in its efforts to build its photography collection. He collected works by Richard Misrach and Diane Arbus before their renown made their works quite expensive. But Willour didn’t profit from the appreciation. Houston did.
A 2005 Chronicle profile estimated his gifts numbered nearly 1,000 with a value in excess of $1 million. He’d donate hundreds more in the subsequent 15 years. Even after he retired, Willour remained tightly connected to the city’s art scene, sitting on various gallery and museum committees.
Through all his work and gifting, Willour sought no attention. At the time of the 2005 story, Willour had never been mentioned in a news release issued by the MFAH. That changed in 2018, when the depth and breadth of his generosity were recognized with his own exhibition. “40 Years of Discovery: Gifts of Clint Willour” was based on a small portion of the pieces he’d donated to the museum over the years: paintings, photographs, prints and other works by artists including John Divola, Graciela Iturbide, Dean Ruck and Hilary Wilder.