Core Strength

Working out is difficult in the winter months, but not for the Cincinnati Art Museum (CAM)! They've tightened their belt, flexed their muscle, and are offering us a glimpse of their core strength (pun intended).

What I mean to suggest is that through their fresh, new display they are privileging their highlights and giving us a view of their strengths, the reasons their permanent collection is regionally premiere.

Senior art majors and some of their friends and family visited the CAM on Sunday afternoon to take in the art and were in for a real treat. The Emma Louise Schmidlapp Wing, designed by noted Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham (think 1893 World's Fair!), had been closed for the summer. It's open now and is no longer a Doric-columned parade of ancient and classical civilizations. The corridor that formerly housed numerous Greek, Roman, and Egyptian objects along with an appetizer of modern and contemporary acquisitions has changed -- for the better. It's got core strength -- and by that I mean HIGHLIGHTS from the entire museum.

Behind graduation-tasseled-pods visitors can encounter a singular (or pair of related works) closely. These viewing areas stretch the length of the Schmidlapp Wing, featuring more two dozen major works from key areas comprising the museum's collections: Warhol, Matisse, Avedon are given private, almost peep-show treatment, just as Gainsborough, Flemish panel painters, Duveneck, and an Egyptian mummy are privileged. This new look is intimate, inviting, and absorbing. It encourages quiet, focused study and concentration on singular objects.

But this isn't the only change in the main corridor. Some of the ancient works from the classical civilizations and Egypt will be re-installed in a newly-created gallery upstairs called The Collections: 6,000 Years of Art. The space (and, maybe, even the core strength corridor on the first level?) will incorporate educative features as well. This space will be open later this fall (it was still under wraps when we visited on Sunday).

If you have the opportunity to visit the CAM over break, please do! The museum is free (bargain) parking is $4.00 (bargain!) but you get that for free as well if you spend $10 in the cafe or $15 in the gift shop. Go----See-----Art, become inspired or learn something knew, and share your passion with friends and family.

Now Showing in the LRC

We have three new movies available for check-out at the LRC that may be of interest.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye—This may be of great interest to those in the Portrait and Lighting class, especially for the upcoming portrait report and homage project.

"Heinz Bütler interviews Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) late in life. Cartier-Bresson pulls out photographs, comments briefly, and holds them up to Bütler's camera. A few others share observations, including Isabelle Huppert, Arthur Miller, and Josef Koudelka. Cartier-Bresson talks about his travels, including Mexico in the 1930s, imprisonment during World War II, being with Gandhi moments before his assassination, and returning to sketching late in life. He shows us examples. He talks about becoming and being a photographer, about composition, and about some of his secrets to capture the moment. Written by jhailey@hotmail.com" IMDb

Herb & Dorothy—Perhaps of note for lovers of contemporary art, and art historians in particular.

"He was a postal clerk. She was a librarian. With their modest means, the couple managed to build one of the most important contemporary art collections in history. Meet Herb and Dorothy Vogel, whose shared passion and disciplines and defied stereotypes and redefined what it means to be an art collector. Written by Anonymous" IMDb

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman—This movie may be interesting to a number of folks, from photographers, lovers of architecture, graphic designers (for the motion graphics utilized in the film), to those who just enjoy the modernist aesthetic.

"Visual Acoustics celebrates the life and career of Julius Shulman, the world's greatest architectural photographer, whose images brought modern architecture to the American mainstream. Shulman, who passed away this year, captured the work of nearly every modern and progressive architect since the 1930s including Frank Lloyd Wright, Richard Neutra, John Lautner and Frank Gehry. His images epitomized the singular beauty of Southern California's modernist movement and brought its iconic structures to the attention of the general public. This unique film is both a testament to the evolution of modern architecture and a joyful portrait of the magnetic, whip-smart gentleman who chronicled it with his unforgettable images. Written by Owens/Rothschild" IMDb