Sunday, December 23, 2018
"Don't make me wait for you at the corner of Eden Park" is a lyric from "Return to the Moon" (2015) by Matt Berninger.
We had time before the Cincinnati Art Museum opened, so took a drive back to Hyde Park.
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Remnant clock tower of the former R K LeBlond
machine-tool company that is now the site of the
Rookwood Commons & Pavilion shopping center |
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Cincinnati Observatory (1873, by Samuel Hannaford in
Greek Revival style, to replace the 1843 "Lighthouse of the Sky"
on Mount Adams, known as the birthplace of American Astronomy) |
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Pavilion (1930 in Italian Renaissance style) in Ault Park,
with a cascade fountain |
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The Cascade Fountain was dedicated to Nora Mae Nolan, to whom
the restored bridge at Withrow High School was also dedicated (KSS) |
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| The Pavilion |
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| View from atop the Pavilion |
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| Merry Inflatable Christmas! |
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| Including an LSU Tiger and an outhouse |
We drove along the Ohio River, then climbed Mount Adams to reach Eden Park and the Cincinnati Art Museum.
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Cincinnati Art Museum (1886, with several additions
including the 2003 Cincinnati Wing) |
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| Pinocchio (Emotional) (2007, by Jim Dine) |
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Mural of Cincinnati (1948, by Saul Steinberg, better known as
an illustrator for The New Yorker magazine) was originally
located in the Skyline Room of the Terrace Plaza Hotel (KSS) |
When the Hilton took over the Terrace Plaza Hotel, the original owner, John Emery, Jr, donated the mural to the art museum. It was displayed, then traveled, and was finally fully restored in 2007. The Terrace Plaza Hotel itself closed in 2008 and remains vacant.
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John Emery, Jr also donated the Joan Miró mural (1947) and the
Alexander Calder mobile titled Twenty Leaves and an Apple (1946) (KSS) |
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Rookwood Room with three of The Four Seasons (1907,
by John Hamilton Delaney Wareham) |
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The Four Seasons were commissioned
for the Grand Cafe of the Hotel Sinton (KSS) |
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The Living Room Fireplace (2013, by Guy Michael
Davis and Katie Parker, with Terence Hammonds
of Rookwood Pottery), a modern take (KSS) |
Rookwood Pottery, based in Cincinnati, was known for its architectural faience tiles. Faience refers to the process of using a lead glaze rendered white by the addition of tin oxide, allowing the use of colors that before could not tolerate firing at a high temperature.
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| Oh, look! It's Ault Park (1950s-1960s, by Herbert Philip Barnett) (KSS) |
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| Vase (1882-1884, by Matt Morgan Art Pottery) (KSS) |
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| Ali Baba Vase (1880, by Mary Louise McLaughlin) |
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| Aladdin Vase (1882, by Maria Longworth Nichols Storer) |
These "lovely" vases by Mary McLaughlin and Maria Longworth Nichols illustrate the rivalry between the two women as porcelain painters. Painting porcelain was a pastime of late 19C ladies, and an 1875 fundraiser auction of hand-decorated tea cups resulted in a tie for the highest bid. They both then submitted items for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia, and were inspired by works of others seen there. McLaughlin came back to figure out the secret of under-glaze decoration, and in 1879 she became the first American to do so. She decided to create the largest vase in America that used this technique. Thus, the Ali Baba vase.
Well! Maria Longworth Nichols had to top that, and she made the Aladdin vase, which was shorter, but wider and thus more difficult to fire. Using family money, she founded the Rookwood Pottery Company, named after her grandfather's Cincinnati estate. Rookwood was best known for its art pottery.
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It looks like the brother of the Cobbler's Apprentice!
The Whistling Boy (1872, by Frank Duveneck) (KSS) |
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Mantel (1851-1868, by Henry L Fry and William H Fry) from the
Longworth mansion at Rookwood |
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| Adoring Angel (1849, by Odoardo Fantacchiotti) |
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| Praying Angel (1848, by Odoardo Fantacchiotti) |
The angel sculptures were commissioned in Florence, Italy for the St Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati. They were the first contemporary European sculptures to arrive in the city and served as examples for local artists. In 1998 they were given to the museum for restoration and display.
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Sideboard (c 1865, by Mitchell and Rammelsberg
Furniture Company, a Cincinnati-based business
regarded as the premier manufacturer
of Victoria-era furniture) |
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Blue Hole, Flood Waters, Little Miami River (1851, by
Robert S Duncanson, an African-American who supported
himself as a painter, and was commissioned by Nicholas Longworth
to paint a series of murals in the entryway of the
Baum-Taft House, now the Taft Museum of Art) |
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Nutzilla (2003, by Mark Fox) is an amusing short movie about
Mr Peanut destroying museum objects; here he grabs a fabric art piece... |
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| ...to blow his nose (KSS) |
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| Mr Peanut eats a masterpiece painting (KSS) |
The fantastic thing about this movie is that the artist had to create in miniature a huge number of the art works of the museum!
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| The section of antiquities with a Greek Lion Funerary Monument (350 BCE) |
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Loving Cup (1893, by Tiffany & Company) was made
for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago |
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Returning from Church, Penmarc'h (1900, by
Elizabeth Nourse) (We are related to Nourses) (KSS) |
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Bedroom Suite (c 1880, by Mitchell & Rammelsberg, in
Anglo-Japanesque style), a one-of-a-kind set of furniture
with Japanese motifs during the era of Japanese Mania |
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Sunflower Seeds (2011, by Sugiura Yasuyoshi) is,
amazingly, a ceramic piece of glazed stoneware |
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Another painting swallowed by Mr Peanut: Shepherd and Sheep
(c 1880, by Anton Mauve) |
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| Vase (c 1894, by Louis Comfort Tiffany) |
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| Undergrowth With Two Figures (1890, by Vincent van Gogh) |
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Rocks at Belle-Île, Port-Dormois (1886,
by Claude Monet); something different |
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| View of Céret (c 1920-1921, by Chaim Soutine) (KSS) |
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| The Red Rooster (1940, by Marc Chagall) |
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| The Moment of Truth (1892, by Paul Gauguin) |
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| Max Jacob (1916, by Amadeo Modigliano), (KSS) |
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Appropriate for Cincinnati: Pete Rose
(1985, by Andy Warhol) (KSS) |
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| Folding chairs for an art museum |
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| Sunday Morning in Virginia (1899, by Winslow Homer) (KSS) |
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Daughters of Revolution (1932, by Grant Wood), note the omission of the
word 'American' in the title, and the inclusion of a painting by a German
and an English Blue Willow tea cup with Chinese designs |
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Lamps (1935, by Walter von Nessen) showing the
machine-age aesthetic of the 1920s and 1930s |
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Guitar (c 1950-1980, by Chester Cornett),
which can be played but is very heavy |
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| Slavery Time (1965-1970, by Elijah Pierce) |
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Emery Wing (1928-1929, by Gerber & Woodward) with wood
paneling was specially created to house a bequest
from Mary Emery of her Old Master European paintings |
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St Thomas of Villanueva Dividing His Clothes
Among the Beggar Boys (c 1667, by
Bartholomé Esteban Murillo) (KSS) |
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Judith with the Head of Holofernes (c 1470,
by Sandro Botticelli) |
Fortunately for you, Dear Reader, there were many masterpieces with 'Do Not Photograph' symbols!
Next: "Lights of Cincinnati."
