"Body in Fragments"

Julia Ramey August 20, 2009 4:00AM

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Given the national obsession with the "Body Worlds" exhibition - in which real bodies are plasticized and opened up so we can all look inside ourselves - the Menil Collection's new "Body in Fragments" exhibition should be popular. But it should also appeal to those who'd like to have a more nuanced conception of personhood. In assembling the exhibit, Menil staff combed through the museum's massive collection to find representations of the human body, fragmented - so there's everything from disembodied bits of Egyptian sculpture to a 15th-century finger reliquary. Some of the world's best-known artists are here, including Pablo Picasso, who shattered and then reconstructed the painted female form, and Rene Magritte, who painted bits of a female nude on separate canvases and then rearranged them. It's still a bit creepy, but you'll probably be able to muster a reaction that extends beyond "ewwww." Through February 28, 2010. 1515 Sul Ross. For information, call 713-525-9400 or visit www.menil.org. Free.
Wednesdays-Sundays, 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Starts: Aug. 21. Continues through Feb. 28, 2009