TEXAS: GALVESTON, PART I -- A MOVIE, A BOOK, AND TWO MUSEUMS

November 27, 2021

I have to confess that whenever I hear "Galveston," the first thing that comes to mind is this song by Glen Campbell:

The next thing I think of is the book Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson, one of my favorite authors. This book tells the story of the monster hurricane that hit Galveston on September 8, 1900. It was the deadliest natural disaster in United States history. (More on the hurricane later.)

The book tells the story of Isaac Cline, the meteorologist who severely underestimated the power of the approaching storm. His wife Cora, who was pregnant with their fourth child, died in the disaster, and Cline himself and his other three children barely escaped alive.

On our first day in Galveston, we went to a small movie theater at Pier 21 that shows a documentary entitled The Great Storm. In addition to this book, the film was a great way to be introduced to the event that completely altered the history of this city, which prior to 1900 was the Wall Street/financial center of the United States.

We also discovered "Old Galveston," the beautiful historic homes and buildings that survived the storm or were rebuilt/restored. Our first exposure to these homes was the Dealey Children's Home, built by a local businessman in 1894-1895 as an orphanage. Sadly, it was destroyed in the storm of 1900. However, newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst hosted a charity bazaar at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York City to raise funds for rebuilding, and the current building was completed in 1902. It now houses the Bryan Museum of Texas history.

TEXAS: CORPUS CHRISTI AREA, PART II (ARANSAS WILDLIFE REFUGE, TREE TOP SIDEWALK, WHOOPING CRANES, AND SPOONBILLS)

 Friday, November 26, 2022

We spent the morning at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, a 115,324-acre protected area on the Gulf Coast. It was established in 1937 as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.

One of my favorite parts of the refuge was this tree top observation boardwalk that zigzags to a 40-foot-tall observation tower.

It is a design masterpiece, taking us from the understory, through the midstory, and above the top story. Educational material is found along the way.

TEXAS: CORPUS CHRISTI AREA, PART I (THANKSGIVING DAY, PADRE ISLAND, PORT ARANSAS NATIONAL PRESERVE)

 Thursday, November 25, 2021 (Thanksgiving Day)

It's hard for me to be away from home, family, and friends on a holiday, although it doesn't seem to bother Bob at all. It was especially strange to be the Gulf Coast for Thanksgiving. NOTHING about the Gulf Coast says Thanksgiving to me. We didn't even see wild turkeys there.

We left Houston at 6:30 PM on Wednesday night, heading for the Corpus Christi area, a distance of just over 200 miles. Bob was worried that we would hit Thanksgiving traffic, and rain seemed to be imminent, so his anxiety was high. 

But neither heavy traffic nor rain materialized, and we made good time.

In the morning we drove to North Padre Island, a barrier island along the coast.

The road took us right onto the beach, where we drove on the sand along the shoreline. The rising sun broke through the clouds, giving us a pretty start to our day of thanksgiving.

We saw lots of pelicans, egrets, and other seabirds hanging out on the shore.

TEXAS: HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, PART III (KINDER BUILDING - 20th CENTURY ART)

 November 24, 2021

I've never done THREE posts on a single museum, but this museum is really a museum network of seven museums. Had we spent another day in Houston, I would have visited another museum in the network.

After finishing our tour through the first of the Houston MFA buildings, we decided to cross the street to check out a beautiful church we had admired on our way to our parking spot. It turned out to be St. Paul's United Methodist Church, built in the 1930s, and it also turned out to be locked. 

Before heading in to the Nancy and Rich Kinder Building, a relatively new addition to the Houston MFA, we took a quick walk through the sculpture garden.  The one piece that looked the most interesting, Anish Kapoor's Cloud Column, was pretty much un-seeable. 

TEXAS: HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, PART II (PERMANENT COLLECTION)

November 24, 2021

As mentioned in my previous post, the Texas Museum of Fine Arts is one of the largest art museums in the United States and has a permanent collection of over 70,000 pieces.  I took a photo of each one for this post.

Not really. 

I'll bet you are relieved.

Actually, I only took photos of 7,000 of my favorite pieces. Prepare yourself.

I was stunned, stunned, to see that the artist behind this painting is John Singer Sargent. It's so abstract and scenic.

Gondolas off the Doge's Palace, Venice (c. 1903-4)
by John Singer Sargent

These are the kinds of paintings that I am used to seeing by Sargent:

Young Man in Reverie (1878) by John Singer Sargent

Mrs. Joshua Montgomery Sears (1899)
by Sargent, known for his
skill at painting white.

Paintings by Sargent always stand out to me. He does such a good job of capturing the personality of his subjects.

TEXAS: HOUSTON MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, PART I, CALDER-PICASSO SPECIAL EXHIBIT

 November 24, 2022

After several days in the wilds of the Gulf Coast (It's a whole different country down there, but then, Texas has about eight different countries within its borders), it was time for the wilds of Houston.

We spent a brief amount of time in Houston in 2012, and for some reason I didn't have a very favorable impression. I did a 180 on this visit.  I loved Houston. I suppose that's why it is a good idea to visit a place more than once.

It helps that our first destination was the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, one of the largest art museums in the United States, and with 300,000 square feet, it is the 12th largest in the world by gallery space. The permanent collection includes roughly 70,000 works from six continents. 

We were very fortunate to catch the "Calder-Picasso Special Exhibit" while we were there. A touring exhibit created by the artists' grandsons, it highlights Calder's and Picasso's artistic affinities as well as their actual physical encounters with each other. 

Portrait of sculptor Alexander Calder January 3, 1957 by Arnold Newman
Portrait of artist Pablo Picasso on June 2, 1954 by Arnold Newman

TEXAS: PORT ARTHUR MUSEUM OF THE GULF COAST

 November 24, 2021

Ninety miles east of Houston is the town of Port Arthur, population 54,000 and home to the largest oil refinery in the United States. Oil refineries dominate the horizon.

Our destination was the Museum of the Gulf Coast, which specializes in just what its name implies--the history of the Gulf Coast.

I stopped to say hello to their welcoming mascot.

Nope, no cavities.