Friday, October 27, 2006

San Antonio's Museums

Some time back I promised that I would have a word about this city's many museums. (See 18 September posting.) I suppose that now is as good a time as any to cover these houses of history and other things.

I say "now" because my previous posting was about "The Alamo", the most recent movie version of the world-famous battle. And as you might suspect, the place has a museum. The official Alamo Museum is a small one, and intertwined with a gift shop. But there ARE exhibit cases in that newer building. And outside is a wall of sorts that purports to give the history of this hallowed ground, from its founding as Misión San Antonio de Valero. Also, the old church building displays a few artifacts, and the other significant remaining portion of the original enclosure, the missionary's convento, later called the Long Barracks by the Texians, also has displays. Lots of them. So-o-o. . . , The Alamo is museum-like, all over. Of course: it's a historic site -- THE most historical site in Texas.

Now, to the major museums. Among the two biggest, best-known museums in San Antonio are the Museum of Art, and the Witte Museum. There is also the McNay Museum, but I have never visited it, so cannot honestly comment.

Between the "big two" I would most often probably name the San Antonio Museum of Art as my favorite. It's located in the old, old Lone Star brewery on the north side of downtown, on the banks of the San Antonio River. (The brewery had been relocated to the banks of the river below or south of downtown, but even that is closed now, and the beer is brewed in northern Texas.) When the museum occupied the building (1970s?) it retained the old architecture,a modified castellated outline, very attractive. In A.D. 2005 it built and opened an "Asian (art) wing" -- which isn't a wing new from the ground up but rather a third story (or fourth, or both) on top of the lowest portion of the original building. It's not the first contemporay-architecture additions the museum has made to the facilities, but the Asian wing really stands out. And I don't like it! It simply clashes with the style of the original brewery.

But en'uf 'bout what's on the outside. It's what's INSIDE a museum that really counts. Right? There are several halls specializing in artwork from various continents, civilizations or styles. Ones I like the most include the Ancient Egyptian, Greco-Roman Classical, Pre-Columbian American and Colonial Latin American. (There's also a contemporary Latin American floor, but I'm not much into contemporary or abstract art.) And the Museum of Art features traveling exhibits, in a hall behind the entrance lobby. Recently this presented "Retratos: 2000 Years of Latin American Portraits." It was a fascinating multi-media exhibition, from Mayan and Nazca ceramic portrait pieces thru colonial Spanish Baroque full-size full-length (as well as miniatures), to 20th Century masters. A very fascinating portrait paring was of a Mexican woman, one portrait in her young adult years by Diego Rivera and another a couple decades later by Rufino Tamayo. The former (the Rivera) was the publicity portrait for the travelingThis was close to being my very favorite of all exhibits I've ever seen in any museum -- and I've been in lots, to include the Met in NYC -- either permanent exhibit or traveling/special.

BUT WAIT! There's the Witte! I truly enjoy visiting this museum on Broadway beside historic Brackenridge Park (at the headwaters of the San antonio River) in April or early May. At that time the Witte will present an exhibit on some factor or other of San Antonio's annual party-to-end-all-parties, Fiesta. Other exhibits, of a more permanent nature, also focus on regional displays.

However, THE BEST exhibit I've ever seen (and HEARD, as you will find out) was a special exhibit a few years back, called "Corridos de la Frontera/ Ballads of the Border". Now, dear reader, know that corridos or Mexican ballads are very dear to me; as a graduate student at Vanderbilt University I did a term paper on the corrido as chronicler of the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917). During that research so many years ago, I became fond of certain of these usually lively and often lovely ballads.

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