Tag: hemisfair

Postcard from Lisboa, Portugal: Billionaire Berardo shares a wealth of art

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Anyone who has got power or a bit of money should contribute to the preservation of culture.

Jose Berardo, “In Lisbon, Sowing the Seeds of Culture,” Seth Sherwood, The New York Times, February 18, 2011

Born in Madeira, Jose Berardo has a “gold finger.” The self-made billionaire started out diving into all-night club scenes in South Africa before settling down to make his fortune through trading in gold, diamonds, paper, finance and almost everything else he touched.

His wealth fueled his urge to collect compulsively. And a portion of the results can be seen at the Berardo Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Belen Cultural Center. A rarity: entry to the collection is admission-free.

The placement of the huge Belen Cultural Center, built in 1992 to host Portugal’s term as head of the European Union, was controversial. The massive modern structure shares the same sweeping plaza as the ancient Church and Monastery of Jeronimos. But the plaza is enormous, and great care was taken to preserve the viewshed of the landmark. And, unlike San Antonio’s slow process in the reuse of HemisFair, the calendar of the Cultural Center is packed with theatrical, musical and art events.

So here goes another download overload of postdated postcards from Lisboa.

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Luminaria Arts Night Shimmers

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The first Luminaria on Alamo Plaza was magical.

Replicating that feeling the following years proved difficult.

But last night, organizers and artists had a new formula nailed. There was room to move and more to see and experience than you could possibly squeeze into the fleeting five hours.

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And, in defiance of the predicted rain, the apocryphal Saint Apophenia, “the patron saint of fortune tellers, the mentally ill, coincidence, patternmakers and artists,” kept the clouds from crying on the crowds.

Update on March 11, 2013: First impressions of Luminaria from the website of the Express-News

Update on January 13, 2014: An artistic pilgrimage to artist Chris Sauter’s Saint Apophenia is underway in San Antonio currently: http://therivardreport.com/chris-sauter-pilgrimage/.

Shiny legacy from HemisFair hints at wealth of SAMA’s Asian Wing

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A shiny hint heralding the wealth of Asian art housed in the Lenora and Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing recently was installed across the river from the San Antonio Museum of Art.

Leiwen, the interwoven thunder pattern on the nine pewter panels, was popular on bronze vessels during the Shang Dynasty, 1800-1200 BCE. These particular panels were crafted for and installed in the Taiwanese Pavilion during HemisFair 1968.

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May Lam donated 14 pairs of the rescued 3 x 1-foot panels to the San Antonio River Foundation during ceremonies at the Asian New Year Celebration more than five years ago. She wanted them to serve as a tribute to the rich cultural contributions of early Chinese immigrants to San Antonio, particularly the hundreds General John Pershing brought from Mexico as the United States entered World War I (I would include a photo of the adjacent panel explaining this and spare myself from typing, but I stubbornly refuse to reproduce materials failing to recognize “River Walk” as two words.).

While General Pershing was pursuing Pancho Villa in Mexico, Chinese businessmen had gathered around his encampments, operating stores and  cafés for his troops. When he returned to San Antonio in 1917, many of the Chinese retreated under his protection and were encamped at For Sam Houston until President Harding granted them legal resident status in 1921.

According to author Mel Brown in Chinese Heart of Texas, some of these new San Antonians, known as “Pershing Chinese,” were able to qualify as “merchants,” an exception to the 1882 Exclusion Act that deprived Chinese of many rights accorded other immigrants and banned additional Chinese immigration. 

Brown wrote: 

Following release from Fort Sam, a somewhat communal lifestyle was assumed at first as the Chinese Camp men stuck together for practical reasons and mutual assistance. If one of them had skills as a cook, the group contributed economically to help establish his café. As the business grew, that man hired his cronies or pitched in monetarily to set up another’s store or café…. This communal response to problems or needs was typical of the Chinese immigrant experience in America. It was a rich cultural resource which strengthened all the Cantonese communities during many years of prejudice, discrimination and exclusion. 

The Exclusion Act was not repealed until 1943.