HOUSTON, TX.- The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, is now accepting applications for one- to three-month fellowships beginning February 1, 2009, at the Dora Maar House in southern France. Maar was an artist and photographer and mistress of Pablo Picasso, who gave her the 18th-century stone house. In 2006, the house became a retreat for scholars, artists, and writers through The Brown Foundation Fellows Program.

The program offers outstanding mid-career professionals the opportunity to further their artistic and scholarly work in the tranquil environment of the village of Ménerbes, located southeast of Avignon. Applications for the 2009 spring term are due by November 1. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by December 1.

The residence has four bedrooms with private baths, a studio for artists, three studies for writers, and a piano. It also has two beautiful gardens, a large kitchen, dining, library, and living rooms. The house is equipped with high-speed, wireless Internet. The village has long been known for attracting artists, and is home to an international community of painters, musicians, filmmakers, actors, and writers.

Each Fellow is accommodated in the Dora Maar House, and is provided with travel expenses from the Fellow’s home to Ménerbes and return; reasonable shipping expenses for books and supplies; and a grant based upon the length of stay at the Dora Maar House. In return, Fellows are asked to be good neighbors to the citizens of Ménerbes and to do some sort of public program while in residence. They are also asked to donate to the house one work of art or publication created while in residence. Should a publication ensue based on work during the fellowship, The Brown Foundation Fellows Program at Dora Maar House asks to be recognized in the publication’s acknowledgments.

Katherine Howe, director of Rienzi and curator of decorative arts at the MFAH, is director of The Brown Foundation Fellows Program at the Dora Maar House. Gwen Strauss, who is based in Ménerbes, is assistant director.

For information about the application requirements and to obtain an application form, visit www.mfah.org/doramaarhouse or call 713-639-7345.