Spurs Legends

NBA legend's pop-culture collection goes on view at Texas museum

Tickets for Tony Parker’s "Heroes and Villains" exhibition will officially go on sale Friday, April 22.

Courtesy of the San Antonio Museum of Art

Spurs legend Tony Parker has a new team, and this time it's the San Antonio Museum of Art.

The 18-year NBA veteran and soon-to-be Hall-of-Famer will lend his collection of pop-culture memorabilia to the museum for a new exhibition, opening June 10 and running through September 4.

Tony Parker’s "Heroes and Villains" features over 30 larger-than-life-size statues of film and comic-book heroes and some of their nemeses. Fans of Marvel and DC franchises, and even Harry Potter, will be able to see how they stack up to some of their favorite characters, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Thor, and Voldemort.

"We appreciate the legendary Tony Parker making his collection available to San Antonio,” says Emily Ballew Neff, PhD, the Kelso Director of the San Antonio Museum of Art, in a release. “This exhibition will be a blast for anyone who has wondered what it would be like to stand face to face with a superhero or supervillain.”

This will mark the first time the public will be able to see the collection, which is sponsored by Thomas J. Henry and The PM Group.

Housed in the historic Lone Star Brewery on the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s River Walk, the San Antonio Museum of Art is committed to promoting the rich cultural heritage and life of the city. Its collection contains nearly 30,000 works representing 5,000 years of history.

Tickets for Tony Parker’s "Heroes and Villains" exhibition will officially go on sale Friday, April 22. To learn more, please visit samuseum.org.

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New

Historic Austin museum will close for more than a year for restoration

Photo courtesy of the City of Austin

The Elisabet Ney Museum will close at the end of 2024 and reopen in mid-2026.

Every building needs some maintenance here or there, and the historic Elisabet Ney Museum needs some extra-special care. Formerly the art studio and residence of its namesake, it's been standing since 1892. It'll spend 2025 in relative solitude, as it undergoes renovation for a year and a half with no visitors allowed.

The museum will close to the public December 30, 2024, and open again in the summer of 2026 if all goes according to plan, a news release from the City of Austin shares. It'll be a quiet period compared to the 21,000 people visiting from around the world each year.

According to a museum overview on the city's website, Elisabet Ney, a European portrait sculptor, bought the property and called her new studio Formosa. She worked on sculptures depicting important Texans like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, and collected works of European contemporaries.

The building at 304 East 44th St. includes 3,700 square feet of museum space, which was converted by Ney's friends after her death in 1907. It retains its unique look that juxtaposes a Neo-Classical main studio from 1892 with a later addition from 1902 including a tower for her husband, Edmund, to write in. It is also on 2.5 acres of land, which has largely been restored to its natural state with native species.

A press release lists these tasks (verbatim) within the scope of the new work, referred to as the Capital Improvement Project (CIP):

Restoration of original exterior wood doors and windows
Upgrades and replacement of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system
Replacement of the exhibit and general lighting systems
Repairs to the roof, masonry, plumbing, and interior finishes.

There will also be work to do outside of the building. Workers will replace the pedestrian bridge across Waller Creek, stabilize a 20,000-square-foot portion of the bank, and make the grounds more accessible by adding new pathways.

Funding comes from several sources, according to a release: "the 2012 Bond, Proposition 14, the Parkland Dedication Fund, the Historic Preservation Fund, Partners in Preservation through the National Trust, and contributions from the Friends of the Elisabet Ney Museum."

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