We took my father and S to the SAMA last night for free Tuesday - free admission on Tuesday nights from 4-9 every week. That's dad there behind the glass looking at the Grecian urns.
That is Psyche and Cupid - who knew Cupid was hot for Psyche? I never would have guessed. But apparently they ran together. At least that's how it's told at the San Antonio Museum of Art Roman collection. They had a very nice collection of Roman statuary, Egyptian artifacts, and Grecian pottery in their classical world wing (my name for it).
It's a modest art museum (say by comparison to the Smithsonian, which we were used to back in DC), but very nice, and the docents are friendly and passionate volunteers.
Last time we went, we explored their collection of Central and South American folk art, which I really enjoyed as well.
For free, it's a great way to spend an hour or two. Even the full price admission is quite reasonable. It's a small enough museum that it doesn't intimidate.
K and I were discussing whether it's ok to not be totally excited by every bit of artifact you see in a museum. I think yes. If you aren't a trained art historian or cultural anthropologist, I think it's natural to feel like going to a museum is a bit like work. But I think it's worthwhile work. You have to build your cultural capital - and the more you know, the more these things mean, and the less like work it feels. But the work you do in these places, the cultural capital you build, pays back in so many other parts of your life - often when you don't expect it.
I, for one, got a really big kick out of the display of coins from the ancient world. I will have to go back and get a picture of it for my lecture on money next year.
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