Having growled for weeks about America’s museums needing to reopen, I felt obliged to my readers and to myself to visit one of the first to do so. Having made no museum visits since March 15, a bread-and-butter issue for me, I was happy to jump into the travel fray and, of course, knew I was hungry to see art. I visited the San Antonio Museum of Art on Thursday. It’s a fine museum filled with wonderful surprises.
Like many civic museums in America, it reflects the distinct character of its collectors and people. American museums spring from local philanthropy. Rarely are they owned and operated by government, as is the case, more or less, in Europe. The local mood guides collection building, the art is often idiosyncratic, and the public’s sense of ownership sacred. Even if the locals don’t go often, they see their museums as defining their hometown as a cultured, privileged place.
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