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COLLECTION OF ROY AND MARY CULLEN. © ESTATE OF KAREL TEIGE Siller graciously made the introduction to their architects. The resulting Cullen commission puts forth a refined appearance, its dignified facade making a perfect pendant to the equally stately, Russian-inspired residence next door, both lining a busy River Oaks thoroughfare. And as you'll glimpse, the Cullen home's late-18th-century-style interiors live up to the grand promise of its exterior. Besides highlighting their burgeoning Czech collection, the Georgian revival house manifests the couple's commitment to vertical living and downsizing. They moved from a 1930s-era house, also in River Oaks, that they had called their Texas home throughout most of their 40-year marriage. (They've also lived, on and off, in a loft in Chicago, Mary's hometown.) Conscious of the architectural riches they were leaving behind, and mindful that the new owners might tear down the property, they struck a deal to take the embellishments of their former casa with them. Ornate mantelpieces, a pair of elaborate built-in corner cupboards in the dining room, highly carved pediments, moldings, window frames and even the front-door surround found new life in their refined new brick-andlimestone edifice. Besides the recycling of its architectural elements, the Cullen house is most noteworthy for giving a new home to priceless and rare examples of Czech avant-garde art — paintings, works on paper, magazines, books, treatises and other ephemera — and glass, all of which span the early years of the 20th century to the 1960s, and miraculously survived two World Wars, revolution and the clench of Communism to somehow make its way to Houston, mostly due to Mary's exhaustive investigative research. The many gems include in-depth works by names that were new to me and will be to many readers. This collection is a revelation indeed about Czech movements including Surrealism, Artificialism, Devetsil, Skupina 42 and all their practitioners, including those of whom Mary speaks with warm familiarity. She relays lively anecdotes and associations that would be only known to family or friends about headliners Karel Teige, whose sexy collage of an airplane buzzing stockinged legs graces the exhibition catalog cover; Jindrich Štyrský, considered one of the avatars of the avant-garde; Jindrich Heisler, who still made photomontages despite being hidden in a bathroom during World War II; and especially Toyen, whose 1936 surrealist masterpiece The Message of the Forest says it all about life at the time. What's on view at the MFAH now through March 11 testifies to the couple's confident collecting, passionate pursuit and absolute dedication to their subject. Reflecting back on the unveiling this past November, Mary Cullen said, "When the exhibition opened, many people asked me if I wasn't thrilled about having my collection at the museum. My answer was that what I was really thrilled about was to have all these great Czech artists having their moment in Houston, and in such an amazing museum as the MFAH." The final alignment: Surely it was a happy coincidence that Roy Cullen's grandson, collage master Dana Harper, married a Czech artist, Hana Hillerova, in 2007, their wedding celebrated in Prague. And fittingly, the couple's daughter, born last year, is named after the celebrated Czech Surrealist Toyen. Life, art and the collection have come full circle. "New Formations: Czech Avant-Garde Art and Modern Glass from the Roy and Mary Cullen Collection" at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, through March 11, 2012. JANUARY | PAGE 23 | 2012 Previous page: The collectors at home, Roy and Mary Cullen with son Meredith Cullen. "The Cullen Collection is unique in its sophisticated overview of both avant-garde art and modern glass ... You sense the passion that inspired artists and glassmakers during this revolutionary era of liberation and innovation," says MFAH curator Alison de Lima Greene, co-organizer of "New Formations," which highlights the pioneering couple's avocation for Czech modernism. Clockwise from top: The dramatically spiraling three-story stairway is the heart of the house. An Austrian chandelier illuminates its organic curves. Carpet by Hokanson. The library manifests the Cullens' dedication to the printed word. These walls star Latin American modernists including disciples of influential Uruguayan Joaquín Torres-García's School of the South. Karel Teige's Untitled, 1947. In a nook of the living room, a wooden sculpture by Mexican-American artist Tom Garcia (Mary Cullen's brother), titled Harlow, 1967. On the lower right wall, an oil on canvas by Czech artist Zdenek Rykr, Tvar, undated.