We got us some culture down heah

I'm finally taking keyboard in hand to finish up reporting on the full week of tourist-ing undertaken when Joan came visiting. Our last tourist attraction was a jewel of a little museum somewhat surprisingly tucked away in my little city—the McNay Art Museum.

The museum has recently acquired a nice new addition and I hadn't been to visit in quite some time. Although the new wing makes it a much larger museum, it's still possible to see it all in a reasonable amount of time, which is a consideration when my memory still reels with my attempts to see everything in the British Museum.

As you can see from these photos, the building is almost as much an attraction as the fine artworks it houses. Originally Mrs. McNay's custom-designed home, the original part of the museum and its grounds have been popular settings for wedding and other portraits for many years. The tiled stairway on the left above is in the fine courtyard of the house, as is this impressive peacock tilework (Mrs. McNay liked peacocks):

She was a really interesting person, an accomplished artist in her own right, and, obviously, a very astute collector. We took the time to watch a short biographical video, something I recommend to any museum visitors, and learned a lot about her fascinating life and how she ended up in San Antonio—a happy outcome for us!

They let you take photos in the permanent collection part of the museum, although without flash, so I didn't get too many good photos of the art itself. This bronze, on the right, caught my eye in a lovely sculpture gallery.

The museum even has haut-design features in the loo. On the left is a close-up of perhaps the most stylish sink fixture I've ever seen, or, at least, ever used. In order to make sure you get the full effect of this amazing piece of plumbing, I'm also including this shot of Joan demonstrating it in use. Cool, eh!?


I'll close with this glimpse out one of the museum's windows showcasing some of the outdoor sculpture that dresses up the museum's impressive grounds. If the sculpture in the fountain outside looks familiar, that's because it was a Wordless Wednesday feature a couple of weeks ago.

I hope to get back on something closer to a real-time schedule with my next posts, but want to thank my guest again for coming to visit and inspire me to take my hometown tourist title seriously!