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Austin360 blogs > Live reports from the Blanton Museum opening > Archives > 2006 > April > 30 > Entry
Battle weary
So I spent time with each piece of art over the course of the past 20 hours. Not enough time, but time.
So what surprised me the most?
The consistency. It’s hard to find fault when each example does exactly what it is supposed to do.
This does no mean the Blanton is packed with masterpieces. But there are so many A minuses and B pluses, that I’d round it up to an A.
I blogged last time about the obvious elisions in the Blanton collection.
Yet in its strengths, the Blanton hits almost every note precisely.
Here’s an example: I actively hated almost nothing.
Which is not to say that it’s flavorless. But rather that I understood why each piece was chosen — and I most often approved.
The closest I came to disapprobation was regarding the Battle Casts. You couldn’t find more devoted admirer of classical culture than myself. And I do understand the educational and historical reasons for retaining and displaying them.
It’s the plaster. It’s not marble or bronze. There’s a falseness, a smooth facility about the material that sets my teeth on edge.
And it’s disheartening to think about firstime visitors mistaking them for the real thing.
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