"Texas!" spurs pride in Lone Star State

By Farrah Madanay     8/31/11 7:00pm

In 1961, Angus G. Wynne, Jr. developed an amusement park in Arlington, Texas. The park was christened "Six Flags Over Texas," after the flags of the six distinct nations that claimed sovereignty over Texas soil throughout history. The Houston Museum of Natural Science guest curator, J.P. Bryan, modeled "Texas! The Exhibition" upon this idea of presenting Texas' history as six segmented eras, with an extra section reserved for Native American culture.

The exhibit guides visitors through a snaking exhibit, highlighting chronologically ordered events in Texas history. While the introductory movie drowns in adjectives and lacks substance, the exhibition is packed with content. "Texas!" begins with an interesting history of nomadic tribes like the Karankawa, our Houstonian predecessors, who rubbed alligator grease on their bodies to elude our all too familiar mosquito foes. The awful, omnipresent missionary music of the subsequent Mexican Frontera section is more than enough to compel only a cursory glance at the crucifix artifacts and friar oil paintings.

The meat of the exhibition lies in the crowning glories of Texas history: the battles. The "Come and Take It" cannon, with a bore only two inches in diameter, is as remarkably underwhelming in size as the Battle of Gonzales in which it was used. Naturally, the exhibition heavily features the Battle of the Alamo and the consequent Mexican-American War. Noteworthy artifacts include William B. Travis' "Victory or Death" broadside plea for reinforcements, James Bowie's last battle knife and the ruthless General Santa Anna's staff flag.

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The strength of the exhibition, however, is its attention to historic events beyond the SparkNotes version of Texas history, namely the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto. While the curator glorifies these iconic battles and Texan perseverance, he does not shy away from Texas' typically underplayed, immoral history of slavery. By 1860, slaves comprised nearly one third of the Texas population in the new State. Accordingly, the exhibition's structure confronts the slave labor that fueled Texas' lucrative cotton industry.

A mix of documents and artifacts represent Texas' Confederacy allegiance, Cattle Kingdom and the famed Texas Rangers. The token feminist interjection of the exhibition is perfunctory at best. This feminist artifact is a saddle attributed inconclusively to the first female Texas Ranger, Allie Townsend. The spotlight on Mrs. Townsend's saddle is dimmed by the overwhelming emphasis on her Texas Ranger husband, Everett Townsend, who founded Big Bend ?National Park.

To finish an exhibition with horrendous orange and lime green rodeo suits is an ill and frankly insulting portrayal of modern- era Texas. However, after spending two hours in the exhibition, my waning curiosity pardoned the exhibition's haphazardly matched and rather uninspiring final display of the history of oil, hurricane disasters and rhinestone-studded rodeo apparel.

Though the exhibition often falters in stylistic innovation, its moments of brilliance arise in the subtleties of presentation. The juxtaposition of Davy Crockett's derringer, ?violin and pipe in a single display case is a holistic representation of the multifaceted hunk behind the larger-than-life legend. Highlighting the simple history of longhorns as a product of feral Mexican and English-relocated cattle appropriately embodies Texas culture as a product of cultural confluence from its "six flags" history.

 Texans' pride in their state runs as deep as their oil rich reserves, and the history recounted in "Texas! The Exhibition" validates this time-honored sensibility. Whether you're a born and bred Texan, or a "y'all"-embracing Texas transplant, a stroll through "Texas! The Exhibition" is a must before it wraps up Sept. 5.

For more information on this exhibit, check out ?www.hmns.org.

 

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