Real Treasures
in San Antonio
Museums
A New Addition At The Buckhorn

By Shannon Huntington Standley

hile San Antonio is home to a thriving arts and cultural scene, four major institutions have spent decades building collections that today feature real treasures.

As the first museum in Texas devoted to modern art, the McNay Art Museum’s collection of prints and drawings is one of the finest in the Southwest. Spawned by one of the first major purchases of founder Marion Koogler McNay — a Diego Rivera acquired from an exhibition at the Witte Museum in 1928 — the Mexican collection has grown to more than 350 works highlighting rare and fine impressions in addition to complete suites.

This rich collection of Mexican prints, coupled with the equally powerful Mexican collection from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, form a nationally traveling exhibition, Mexico and Modern Print-making: A Revolution in the Graphic Arts, 1920-1950, that will be on view at the McNay from Oct. 3 through Jan. 6, 2008.

Mexican artists provided a vital contribution to modern printmaking, and this exhibition emphasizes the resurgence of printmaking by Mexican artists in the decades following the Revolution of 1910 as well as the renowned Taller de Grafica Popular, the printmaking workshop that flourished throughout the 1930s and ‘40s. More than 125 prints by 31 Mexican and 19 foreign-born artists will be on view.

On Oct. 8, 1926, San Antonio’s museum of South Texas history, culture and natural science opened its doors as the Witte Museum. Eighty years later, the Witte’s extensive collections feature historical artifacts, gems, minerals, Texas furniture, textiles, the Hertzberg Circus Collection, dinosaurs, ancient Texan rock art, historic homes and hands-on science exhibits.

In celebration of the 80th anniversary, the Witte Museum looked to the public to curate an exhibition of the community’s favorite and most memorable artifacts on view over the past 80 years.

Gems of the Collection: Community as Curator, on view through July 29, boasts a wide array of treasures, including a 650-pound amethyst, a 67.22-carat blue topaz, an exquisite collection of Tiffany glass, paintings by Julian Onderdonk, a cotton dress purchased with the first money Sarah Tate earned after being freed from slavery, Tom Thumb’s carriage, iron keys said to unlock the door of the Alamo and a replica of a shrunken head.

When exiting the elevator on the first floor of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Art at the San Antonio Museum of Art, visitors are greeted by Fernando Botero’s voluptuous bronze sculpture, Venus, towering at 6 feet, 3 inches tall. Colombian-born Botero is Latin America’s most popular living artist and has become known for his depiction of the comedy of human life through ironic and ornate expressions. His monumental sculptures, in particular, have become a signature of his work.

The San Antonio Museum of Art will be the first in the United States to host a retrospective exhibition of Botero’s work, not shown in North America since 1974. The Baroque World Of Fernando Botero will be on display May 26 through Aug. 19, with 99 works of sculptures, prints and paintings, as a collaborative project with the Southwest School of Art & Craft and the San Antonio Public Library Foundation. This exhibition presents a selection of the best works from various stages in Botero’s development as an artist, from his studies of the history of European art to the arrogance and misery of contemporary life in Latin America.

In 1968, HemisFair changed San Antonio forever, and when the celebration was complete, the Texas State Exhibits Building became the Institute of Texan Cultures, a vital site for multicultural education through the study of the ethnic and cultural history of this great state. The library at UTSA’s Institute of Texan Cultures is home to a collection of more than 3.5 million historic photographic images that document the history of San Antonio and highlight the many ethnicities of Texas.

Among this vast store of photographs is the famed Zintgraff Collection, which comprises approximately 850,000 images. The Zintgraff Studio was a commercial firm in San Antonio from the 1930s to 1987. This collection is a tremendous documentation of history, allowing visitors to step back in time and see downtown street scenes, local businesses, architecture, movie theaters, movie stars, the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, Fiesta San Antonio and more. Many of the images are available for reproduction and purchase.

While history is frozen in time through photographs, the Institute of Texan Cultures also brings history to life. A team of performers has been assembled to step into the shoes of some of Texas' most colorful contributors and invite guests to engage in dialogue with characters who played significant roles in the development of Texas' cultural fabric. These include such individuals as Otto von Kruger, an 1875 German immigrant; John Wesley Jones, a circuit-riding preacher; and Hacita, a seamstress from the early 1900s.

These institutions are staples in the cultural community of San Antonio and serve vital roles in enriching lives through education. Their dedication to preserving art and history brings San Antonio to the forefront of nationally and internationally renowned collections.