1918 - 2003

Home    Search    Print    Add Bookmark

• Birth	24 Dec 1918	Beaumont, Jefferson county, Texas
  Gender	Female
  Died	24 Dec 2003	Houston, Harris county, Texas
  Person ID	I40298	mykindred
  Last Modified	14 Jan 2008 00:00:00
  Father	Harry Carothers Wiess, b. 30 Jul 1887, Beaumont, Jefferson county, Texas
  Mother	Olga Keith, b. 8 Dec 1888
  Family ID	F566	Group Sheet
  Family 1	William H. "Bill" Francis, Jr., b. Abt 1914
  Married	1946
  Family ID	F18372	Group Sheet
  Family 2	Theodore Newton "T.N." Law, b. 3 Dec 1910, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
  Married	1960
  Family ID	F15753	Group Sheet

• Photos		Wiess Francis Law, Caroline (1918-2003) Andy Warhol's "Caroline".
  		Joan Miró's painting - The Circus Horse (1927) Bequest to MFAH
  		Wiess Francis Law, Caroline (1918-2003)
  		Christie's  Sale 1497, Lot 247 Property from The Estate of Caroline Wiess Law Sold to benefit the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston A stylish rubellite tourmaline, kunzite and diamond necklace, by David Webb Estimate: $60,000-80,000 http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/search/searchresults.asp?SN=1497&LN=0247

• Notes

  Mrs. Caroline Wiess Law was a generous supporter of numerous organizations, including the Baylor College of Medicine and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (the Caroline Wiess Law Building is located at 1001 Bissonnet at Montrose).  She and her husband were  were early supporters of John and Dominique de Menil's projects, contributing to the creation of the Rothko Chapel.  She donated one million dollars to the M.D. Anderson Cancer Institute in 1991.    At her death, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston was bequeathed 54 major works of modern art worth $60-85 million from her estate as well as $25 million.  The works included pieces by Arshile Gorky, Hans Hofmann, Willem de Kooning, Joan Miró, Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, whose four-canvas series of portraits of Law titled Caroline (1976) was included in the bequest.  One of Picasso's most famous paintings, Two Women in Front of a Window (1927), is "the most important work in her collection," says MFAH director Peter C. Marzio.  The inclusion of three Franz Kline paintings makes the museum one of the most important Kline collections in the world.  She had no children. Obituary -- Houston Chronicle, Dec. 24, 2003, 9:24PM Caroline Wiess Law, art philanthropist, dies By Patricia C. Johnson (c) 2003 Houston Chronicle     Caroline Wiess Law, one of Houston's most important and generous philanthropists, died in her sleep Wednesday, her 85th birthday. She had often told friends it would "be wonderful to die on my birthday."     "She was a major collector and one of the most important trustees in the history of the museum," said Peter C. Marzio, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "When the trustees named the Watkins-Mies Building after her (in 1998), it basically illustrated how total her commitment was -- not just to the collection, but programs like education."     "She was a pillar of strength," added Alfred Glassell Jr., chairman emeritus of the MFAH board. "She was so supportive and gave us so much. Caroline was wonderful to work with, and the museum was the most important part of her life."     Law, whose shyness was legendary, was the second of three daughters born to Harry C. and Olga Wiess. Her father and three partners, William S. Farish, Robert Lee Blaffer and Ross S. Sterling, founded the Humble Oil Co., now known as Exxon Mobil.     Her parents, Law once told the Chronicle, "weren't into art," but they were among the founders of the MFA in 1924 and major benefactors of other institutions, including Rice University.     Caroline Wiess was a debutante of the exclusive Allegro Club in 1939, a ball recorded as "one the most beautiful Houston had yet seen," and she was city champion in doubles tennis twice.     She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, NY) in 1941 and five years later married Bill Francis. He was a partner in the law firm Vinson, Elkins, Weems before going into private practice and later into the oil business.     Law told the Chronicle in 1989 that she didn't know where her passion for art came from, but it was for modern art from the beginning.     "I tried the Impressionists," she said, "but they weren't me. Then, I saw Picasso's Two Women in Front of a Window and just knew."     She worried about what her new husband would think of her purchase, so, she recalled with glee, "I locked him in the library while I hung it in the living room. When he saw it, he just muttered, `I'll be (damned)!' "     She later gave the 1927 painting to MFAH.     "She kept falling in love with new artists all the time," her nephew James A. Elkins III said Wednesday. "She just kept buying, even this year."     Francis died in 1958 while serving as assistant secretary of defense to President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and his widow returned to Houston and the River Oaks house that had been their home.     In 1960 she married Theodore Newton Law, heir to the Barnsdall Oil Corp., and the Inwood Drive house, designed by John Staub, increasingly became a treasure chest of major works by masters from Picasso to Willem de Kooning.     She became a member of the MFAH board in 1964 and with her husband began to give pieces from their growing art collection to the museum. Among them were Back I, a 1909 bronze by Henri Matisse; Corinthian II, 1961, an oil on canvas by Franz Klein; and Tournesols, a 1975 oil on canvas by Joan Mitchell.     In May 1989, the Laws purchased the city block adjacent to the museum for the future Audrey Jones Beck Building, paying the then-astounding price of $3.25 million.     "Being able to buy that property has given me as much pleasure as anything we've been able to do," she said at the time. Her husband died four months later.     Although identified most with MFAH, the Laws were early supporters of John and Dominique de Menil's projects, contributing to the creation of the Rothko Chapel, giving $1 million to the Menil Collection's building fund in 1981 and an additional $500,000 to its endowment.     In the late 1980s, Caroline Law served on the board of the Menil Foundation.     "When Dominique asked me I thought about it for a long time," Law said. "I am the world's worst fund-raiser, I don't have a degree in art history, but I loved Dominique's concept of sitting on a couch and looking at one painting."     Leaders in the art community mourned Law's death Wednesday.     "Her death is a huge loss to the community," Menil board president Louisa Sarofim said. "She was critical in the founding of the collection and very generous to us."     "Caroline was a funny, wonderful lady," said Isabel Wilson, chairwoman of the MFAH board. "Her death, like Audrey Beck's (in August), is a great, great loss to the museum, to the city, to all her friends."     Law's brother-in-law, James A. Elkins Jr., said, "Her deep interest in the MFAH, cultural arts and other charities will be sorely missed."     A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Monday at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, 2450 River Oaks Blvd.     Law is also survived by her sister, Margaret Wiess Elkins; stepson T.N. Law Jr.; and nieces Sandra Smith Lloyd, Sharon Smith Keller, Sydney Smith Macpherson, Elise Elkins Joseph and Leslie Elkins Sasser. (ed. note:  The obituary is in error regarding her survivors.  Both of her sisters preceded her in death, Elizabeth dying in 1996 and Margaret in 1999.) Her hometown newspaper, the Beaumont Enterprise, Wednesday, February 16, 2005, p. 11A had this article (year was 2005, not 2003 or 2004). Oil heiress gift could be $450M Houston art museum benefits from Beaumont native's endowment Hearst wire services     The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston soon could be the recipient of the largest cash gift to a fine arts museum ever publicly announced -- all thanks to a Beaumont native.     Caroline Wiess Law, the Beaumont-born daughter of one of Hunble Oil Co.'s founders, made the museum the prime beneficiary of her estate.  In the end, the museum could net between $400 million and $450 million, said director Peter Marzio.     "In recent history, this would be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cash gifts to an art museum," said Mimi Gaudieri, executive director, Association of Art Museum Directors in New York.  "This money will help make Houston one of the most important museums in terms of programming and serving the public."     "Law's bequest would rand as No. 1 in non-art donations to museums on a list compiled by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, which tracks charitable donations of $50 million  and more.     Law died on her 85th birthday, (.... continued, complete article not available)          GIFT, back page The philanthropic Mrs. Law; Major art, major generosity and major jewellery (sic) By Daphne Lingon http://www.christies.com/promos/apr05/1497/specialist.asp?article=2 Caroline Wiess Law led a life of remarkable patronage, with an unwavering dedication to 20th century art. So it was not surprising to learn that with her death on Christmas Eve 2003, her 85th birthday, she would be the one presenting gifts.     The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston received an endowment bequest from Mrs. Law's estate of over $25m in major works by great artists such as Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Joan Miro, Jackson Pollock, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy nWarhol and Robert Motherwell—to name a few. In 1998 the Museum honoured her 40-year commitment as a passionate and dedicated supporter by renaming the main building in her honour. The Rothko Chapel and the Menil Collection were also recipients of Mr. and Mrs. Law's philanthropic generosity. Beyond the world of art, she left $25m each to the Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.     Born in Beaumont, Texas in 1918, Mrs. Law was one of three daughters of Olga Keith and Harry C. Wiess. Her father was one of the founders of Humble Oil and Refining Company, now Exxon Mobil. In 1946 she married William Francis, a partner at the law firm of Vinson, Elkins, Weems and Francis. He also served as assistant secretary of defense under Dwight D. Eisenhower. After Mr. Francis's death in 1958, she married Theodore N. Law, the founder of Falcon Seaboard Drilling Company and Mid-Continent Airlines, which merged with Braniff Airways in 1952.     Mrs. Law's admiration of daring brushstrokes and bold colours in works of art is echoed in her collection of superb jewels and gemstones. The distinctive palette and strong hues, the fine detail and the mark of important 20th-century jewellery firms such as Harry Winston, Julius Cohen and Seaman Schepps, epitomize this collection. One highlight is an unusual example by David Webb, whose oeuvre Mrs. Law favoured—the majority of her ensemble is from his workshop. Striking in colour with its focus on fuchsia-coloured pink rubellite tourmalines, the paler pink kunzites and colourless diamonds, it dazzles the admirer. A magnificent single stone pear-shaped diamond ring, weighing approximately 17.84 cts and of F colour,VS1 clarity (estimate: $200,000-250,000), headlines her array of impressive gemstones, which also includes a cushion-cut sapphire ring, weighing approximately 41.20 cts. (estimate: $120,000-150,000), that had once belonged to her mother.     As a tribute to her legacy the Museum of Fine Arts,Houston exhibited 42 of the works from Mrs Law's collection, in a show entitled 'A Spirited Vision'. This vision will long remain a testament of her commitment to culture, beauty and tireless philanthropy.     Daphne Lingon, senior specialist, Christie's Jewellery Department, New York The Caroline Wiess Law Bequest museum of fine arts, houston. february 24 - April 25, 2004 by John Devine http://glasstire.com/reviews/houston/MFAH_Law.htm     Viewing A Spirited Vision: Highlights of the Bequest of Caroline Wiess Law to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the thought occurred to me: it’s always nice to see how the other half lives. I’m not being flippant. When I lived in Philadelphia in the 1980s, the PMA mounted a similar exhibit after trustee Henry McIlhenny’s death, and it was possible to imagine, as you walked through the exhibit, what it must be like to live with Renoir’s Mlle. Legrand, an exquisite portrait of a young girl in a deep blue and white frock (one of the few Renoirs that I like), in company with, to name just a few, an Ingres, a Van Gogh, several Degas, and (another favorite) a droll, beautifully executed drawing of Harpo Marx, with a lobster on his head and a tongue laying atop the harp he’s playing, by — who else? — Dali. It was a heady experience, picturing myself in the drawing rooms of McIlhenny’s Rittenhouse Square townhouse. Now those works – and the rest of his bequest — have been integrated into the collection and the colloquy they held about their late patron, the portrait that they provided, is lost. They’re having other conversations now.     So unless Ms. Law, who died last Christmas Eve at 85 (in a rare symmetry, on her birthday), stipulated how her collection is to be displayed — and I don’t believe she did — this may be the only chance one will have to view these works together and hear what they have to say about their sponsor. A Spirited Vision contains about 40-some works, while the bequest comprises 54 works valued at between $60 million and $85 million, with an additional $25 million endowment going toward the museum’s operating funds and to add to its holdings. The exhibit is mounted at the east end of the mezzanine of the Brown Pavilion, in the building named for Ms. Law, overlooking a group of German Neo-Expressionist paintings from the 1980s, several of which the museum acquired through her largesse. To say that her relationship with the museum was profound would risk understatement.     Caroline Wiess Law was born in 1918, the second daughter of Harry C. Wiess, a founder of Humble Oil & Refining Co., now ExxonMobil. She graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1941. Her first husband was William Francis, a partner at the law firm that would become the Houston power broker Vinson & Elkins, and he died in 1958 while serving as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Eisenhower administration. Two years later, she married her second husband, Theodore Newton Law, founder of Falcon Seaboard Drilling Co. and of Mid-Continent Airlines. Before his death in 1989, the Laws bought the city block on which now rests the museum’s Audrey Jones Beck Building. In addition to the MFAH, Ms. Law was a generous supporter of the Houston Ballet, the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Symphony, as well as Baylor College of Medicine and UT’s M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, both of which will receive $25 million from her estate.     Ms. Law began collecting in the 1950s. Art dealers, perhaps making some amusing assumptions about class and gender, brought her a slew of Impressionist paintings, but, she said, “They didn’t talk to me.” Then an intrepid gallerist from New York rented a convertible, tossed Picasso’s 1927 Two Women in Front of a Window in the back seat, and drove all the way to Houston to bring it to her door. It was love at first sight, and Picasso became her favorite artist. This instant love affair established that her eye was drawn more to abstraction and to bright colors (looking around the collection, she seems to have had a fondness for orange — it shows up often enough). But, just as the above anecdote indicates an independent streak, she didn’t necessarily indulge her proclivities, either.     If she sought works that spoke to her, another guiding concern was how a work might fit into the museum’s holdings. Apparently she always intended her collection to join those holdings and so she acquired works like Penumbra, from 1959, one of Adolf Gottlieb’s Burst paintings, to complement a painting from his earlier pictograph series already belonging to the museum. Similarly, whereas previously the MFAH hadn’t any de Koonings, they now have three, including a lovely black enamel on paper, Black and White (Rome), from 1959, that I might have taken for a Franz Kline if the artist hadn’t signed it. Speaking of Kline, Ms. Law possessed three good ones. The vibrantly austere Corinthian II, from 1961, hangs at a right angle to the de Kooning, and comparing the paint handling in the two is instructive. The enamel paint in the latter is allowed to spot and almost pool in places, while the Kline is all swift, energetic strokes, done with the sureness of a master Zen calligrapher. That same energy appears in the vertical Red Brass, from 1955, and the hugely horizontal Orange and Black Wall, from 1959, two fine examples of the relatively rare paintings in which Kline used color (the latter admittedly appearing to be in serious need of conservation). Joining the museum’s Wotan, from 1950, the MFAH now has a fine group of mature Klines.     Other works in the bequest fill in gaps in the museum’s holdings, while taking you on a short tour of 20th century art. Joan Miro’s Painting (The Circus Horse), 1927, a gemlike example of the Catalan surrealist’s deft line and dynamic color, is the first of his paintings to enter the collection. Two works by Arshile Gorky, a painting from 1937, titled Composition, and a drawing from the Nightime, Enigma and Nostalgia series of the early 1930s, are also firsts for the museum’s holdings. The museum also now has three of the most interesting Hans Hoffmans I’ve seen, joining the fine earlier one they already had. Blue Monolith, from 1964, is just that, comprised of broad swaths of color; by using lighter to darker shades and by carefully arranging horizontal and short diagonal over predominately vertical strokes, Hoffman creates the pleasurable tension of peering into a water-filled grotto, part enticement, part apprehension. Nearby, Sunflowers, a large, dense painting by Joan Mitchell, from about 1989, belies its title, with a background of violet strokes and a foreground of jabbing black strokes, and, in between, a field of green and orange vying gamely for attention.     With all this abstract painting, especially from the New York School, a couple of statues by Roy Lichtenstein come as a real surprise. After all, only now, six years after his death, are his sculptures beginning to get attention. But Archaic Head VI and Galatea, 1988 and 1990 respectively, are very Picasso-esque, the former reminiscent of his late drawings, the latter echoing earlier paintings, such as the 1932 Girl Before A Mirror, which was seen here recently in the MoMA show. Doubtless, that was part of their appeal for Ms. Law. But they also point to another guiding principle to her collecting, one that may have been subliminal, and helps to explain why this exhibit, despite its wide range of styles across the better part of a century, feels so unified. The artworks that spoke to her, at least as represented by these highlights, have a sensuous quality. The rhythm of the single bronze line of Galatea, the strong, expressive gestures of Kline, the curvilinear abstract shapes of the Gorkys, the bright colors throughout — these aspects of the works gathered here speak to an aesthetic based more on sensation, a visceral reaction to a painting or a sculpture, than on connoisseurship. Such comprehension presumably would come later, through living with the works and contemplating them in the day-to-day. When a work of art first spoke to Caroline Weiss Law, she heard lyric poetry, not prose. The Art of Giving and Healing by Kristi Krupala Caroline Wiess Law     Whether it was Miro or Warhol, Caroline Wiess Law knew art. She was passionate about the many masterpieces she ran across in her lifetime of commitment to supporting fine arts.     She was equally ardent in her quest to enhance the human condition through her generous gifts to academic medicine. She understood that the art of medicine was crucial to improving lives, just as the Great Masters were inspiration to our souls.     Law's generosity put her at the top of the Chronicle of Philanthropy and Slate magazines' annual census of the nation's biggest donors, entering her on the list in the number four position with a $450 million bequest.     Caroline Wiess Law - in her estate - donated $25 million to BCM, one of the largest single gifts ever given to the College.     The primary beneficiary of her estate - the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH) - received $400 million, and Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center were privileged to receive $25 million each. BCM counts this as one of the largest single donations ever given to the College.     Mrs. Law and her family have had a longstanding relationship with the College. Since the early 1970s, she and her husband, Theodore "Ted" Newton Law, contributed more than $5.1 million to BCM, with gifts designated specifically for the Departments of Medicine, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Ophthalmology, and Otorhinolaryngology, as well as for the DeBakey Heart Center. Mrs. Law also established several endowed research funds in these areas, along with the Olga Keith Wiess Chair of Surgery. Additionally, the Caroline Wiess Law Foundation made several gifts totaling more than $750,000 to Baylor.     Mrs. Law's largest gift to the College, the $25 million named in her bequest, was given for the establishment of a permanent fund named The Caroline Wiess Law Endowment for Academic Excellence at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Peter G. Traber, BCM President and CEO recently established a committee charged with honoring Law's desire to advance academic excellence at the College.     Chaired by BCM Chancellor Dr. Bobby R. Alford, the committee will actively recruit new faculty members who are mid-career physicians/scientists and who have been recognized for their outstanding accomplishments in collaborative interdisciplinary translational research. Selection will be based on broad biomedical interests and the ability to translate and transform scientific discovery effectively into clinical application. "This incredible endowment has allowed us to create a unique program that we believe will attract to Baylor College of Medicine the best minds in the country as Caroline Wiess Law Scholars," said Traber.     Mrs. Law had often told friends she thought it would be "wonderful to die on my birthday." Her passing came on the morning of December 24, 2003, her 85th birthday. While her philanthropy was broad-based, she had become best known as an international art collector and patron of the arts. She loved all the arts and generously supported the Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Symphony. Law also was a leading donor to the fund drive that established the Menil Collection in the 1980s.     Her greatest love was the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston - where she served on virtually every committee - and her main passion was modern art. Law was a serious collector of twentieth century art, including major works by great artists such as Willem de Kooning, Pablo Picasso, Arshile Gorky, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mitchell, Andy Warhol - who painted her portrait - Joan Miro, and Mark Rothko, as well as innovative works by lesser-known talents such as Christopher Wilmarth and Jim Love.     Mrs. Law never formally specified what qualities led her to choose one work of art over another. Her selection process was based on viewing thousands of paintings and sculptures during her lifetime, continually refining and expanding her tastes throughout the years. Rather than embracing one certain formal quality in a work of art, she responded to the "spirit" of the piece, which she drew from the strength or liveliness that resides in the art. For her, each work had to express a clarity and flair that resonated with confidence or purpose. She approached all of her humanitarian endeavors with the same concept, selecting those organizations and funding those projects that showed the most promise and purpose for the betterment of society as a whole.     Her passion for art came to her naturally. Her parents - Harry C. Wiess, founder of Humble Oil & Refining Company, and Olga Keith Wiess - were part of the original "start-up" team for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston in 1924. Mrs. Wiess became a lifetime trustee of the museum and funded the institution's Harry C. Wiess Gallery in memory of Caroline's father.     Mrs. Law attended Kinkaid School, Ethel Walker School, and Sarah Lawrence College and, in 1946, she married William Francis, a partner in the Houston law firm of Vinson, Elkins, Weems & Francis. In 1957, he was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and the couple moved to Washington, D.C. The following year, he died at the age of 44 from a heart attack, and Mrs. Law returned to Houston.     Two years later, she married Theodore (Ted) Newton Law, founder of Falcon Seaboard Drilling Company and Mid-Continent Airlines, which merged with Braniff Airways in 1952. Her husband was a member of the Board of Governors of Rice University and the Board of Visitors at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. After his death in 1989, Mrs. Law continued to honor his legacy of commitment to these institutions.     Her outstanding gift to Baylor College of Medicine - as well those to the countless other institutions she so generously supported throughout her remarkable life - is a testament to the commitment she had to the culture, history, education, and future of Houston.

• Sources

  [S936] Debrett’s Texas Peerage, by Hugh Best; 1983. [S1988] Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, "Chronology of Events in MFAH History".