house museum – Page 4 – Postcards from Barton Springs

Postcard from Marfil, Guanajuato, Mexico: Artists gave new life to ancient hacienda

March 24, 2019 postcardsfromsanantonio1 Comment

Silver from el Minero de Santiago Marfil afforded one of the Spanish elite settling in Mexico to purchase land above the Rio Guanajuato and oriented toward a church for a luxurious hacienda in the late 1700s.

Centuries later in the 1960s when Canadian artist Gene Byron (1910-1987) and her husband Virgil Fernandez del Real purchased the ex-hacienda Santa Anna, Marfil was somewhat of a ghost town. The couple transformed the ancient buildings and grounds into a showcase for their collections of Colonial art and the results of their own artistic endeavors. In addition to her painting, Byron learned to craft handsome punched tin and copper pieces that are found throughout the house museum her husband opened to the public after her death.

The museum often hosts live classical or jazz concerts on Sundays in an intimate setting. During the week, wandering through the house with a docent often is a private tour.

There is a restaurant on site, but we visited on a Monday when it was closed. Although the road through no longer-sleepy Marfil has traffic speeding along, we walked along the narrow sidewalk to ascend to the colorful church perched above and then passed by the ancient statue-topped dam across the river on our way to score an incredible Italian feast at Piccato di Gola, fifteen minutes away at the other end of town.

Postcard from Budapest, Hungary: ‘Art is long; life is short.’

July 19, 2017 postcardsfromsanantonio2 Comments

The grandson and son of glass-cutters, Miksa Roth (1865-1944) wanted to move beyond craftsmanship to high art. He traveled on his own to learn from examples created by European masters. Upon his return to Budapest, he found himself in the midst of a building boom, with Art Nouveau and, later, Art Deco works in high demand.

Roth’s glass and mosaic pieces are found in the Parliament Building, Saint Stephen’s Basilica, the Agricultural Museum and the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. Outside of Budapest, he executed an opalescent glass dome designed by Geza Maroti for the National Theater of Mexico and glass works in the Royal Palace of the Netherlands and in churches throughout Europe. He was awarded a silver medal in the Paris World Exhibition in 1900 and Grand Prizes in Turin and in St. Louis in 1904.

Roth moved into his home in Budapest in 1910, and a large building in the courtyard doubled as the Work Institute of Imperial and Royal Stained Glass and Mosaic Artist Roth Miksa (In Hungary, surnames precede given names.). During its peak, the workshop employed as many as 30 assistants.

The house, now a museum, features three rooms filled with furniture he designed and mosaics, stained glass and glass paintings of his as well as some he collected on travels throughout his career.

The intimate house museum is small, but the pieces inside are stunning and well worth a detour to Nefelejc Street.

Postcard from Valencia, Spain: Philips lightbulb only hint of ‘secret’ garden of tiles beyond

May 13, 2017 postcardsfromsanantonioLeave a comment

An over-the-top flashy exterior of a former home now the National Museum of Ceramics and Decorative Arts commands the attention of most visitors in the historic center of Valencia. Almost the only thing attracting one’s attention to a smaller house museum on a busy street above the Turia Park is this old tile advertisement. But this, the House Museum José Benlliure, we enjoyed so much more.

The first floor of the former home provides insight to period furnishings, with the upper floors featuring paintings by José Benlliure y Gil (1858-1937) and his son. While the art is worthwhile on its own, the more intriguing spaces are found out the back door.

Benlliure designed the garden upon his return from Rome in 1912. The intimate retreat is filled with tile murals he collected and a colorful series he commissioned depicting regional costumes and agricultural products – mainly oranges and grapes.

At the rear of the garden is the artist’s former art studio and office, wonderfully cluttered and personal. A pure pleasure to explore.