Miamisburg-Dayton (10/17/2018)

Wednesday, October 17, 2018
Well! We had to stick around until today, because the Dayton Art Institute is only open Wednesday-Sunday! It also does not open until 11:00, so Brad kindly kept us busy earlier in the morning. (Unfortunately, Debbie had to go to work each day.)
First to Miamisburg, OH.

Miamisburg Mound is the largest mound in Ohio
at 20m/65' high and 78m/255' in diameter

View north from the top of the Miamisburg Mound

There are 116 steps, and a woman was going
up and down for exercise!

Next stop was the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center.

Bicycle racks (KSS)

Replica of a Wright glider (KSS)

Replica of Hanes Grocery that was housed in the Hoover Block (KSS)

At 10:00. a park ranger took us next door to the Wright Cycle Company building.

The building (1886) was leased by the Wright Brothers in 1895
as their 4th of 5 bicycle shops, and it also housed their printing business

Replica men's Van Cleve, the top-of-the-line bicycle
built by the Wright Company (KSS)

Van Cleve badge (KSS)

Replica women's Van Cleve; there are only five original Wright
bicycles left in the world: one in the National Museum of the US
Air Force, two at the Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, OH, one in the
Henry Ford Museum in Detroit (along with the original 5th bicycle
shop and the Wright family home), and one in the Smithsonian

Replica of the workshop of the 5th bicycle shop

We returned to the Interpretive Center, housed in the Hoover Block.

Replica of one of the Wright printing offices

Hoover Block (1890)

 Dayton Region's Walk of Fame mural (2017, by James Pate)
across from the Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center;
there are memorial stones in the sidewalk honoring personal or
professional contributions to the community, nation, and the world

A short drive to the Paul Laurence Dunbar House (1894).

The last house of the first internationally acclaimed African-American poet,
Paul Laurence Dunbar, was purchased in 1903; although Dunbar died in 1906,
his mother continued to live in the house until 1934, keeping everything as
Dunbar had left it, and in 1937 it was bought by the State of Ohio

Finally the Dayton Art Institute, founded in 1919, and housed in a landmark building built in 1930.

Lost and Found (2003, by Alison Saar)

Homage to Painting (1983,
by Roy Lichtenstein)

A view of the Leo the Lion statue (1907, by Anna Vaughn Hyatt for
Steele High School in Dayton; when the school closed it was moved
to the Dayton Art Institute in 1955)

Stacks in Celebration (1954, by Charles Sheeler),
an example of the Precisionist movement (KSS)

Jack-in-the-Pulpit (early 20C. by Tiffany Studios)

Landscape (1919, by Danish-American
Søren Emil Carlsen in his version of Impressionism)

The Fugitive's Story (1869, by John Rogers) shows
a slave escapee mother with her child telling of her
experiences to three anti-slavery movement leaders:
John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Ward Beecher,
and William Lloyd Garrison

View of Cincinnati (1853, by German Edward Beyer) (KSS)

View of the Hale Italian Cloister of the Dayton Art Institute

Free Sample, Take One (1891, by De Scott Evans, who studied
at Miami University in Oxford) is a trompe l'oeil (KSS)

Dining Table (c 1815, attributed to Duncan Phyfe) (KSS)

Obviously the table can be expanded to a great length! (KSS)

A peek into the women's restroom

Centerpiece (c 1908, by Wiener Werkstätte in Jugendstil)

Shaw Gothic Cloister

Judith with the Head of Holofernes (c 1615-1620,
by Italian Carlo Saraceni) (KSS)

Judith and Holofernes (15C, by the Florentine Master of Marradi) (KSS)

Okay, what is the story of Judith and Holofernes?! In the Deuterocanonical Book of Judith (part of the Catholic Bible and not the Protestant Bible), the Assyrian general Holofernes is preparing to destroy the town of Bethulia (in Judea?). Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because he desires her. When he passes out from too much drink, Judith beheads him, and thus saves her home from destruction.

Navajo Horse Blanket Cylinder
(1976, by Dale Chihuly)

Aurora Red Ikebana with Yellow Stems
(2001, by Dale Chihuly)

Pathway (2001, by John Safer) is dedicated to
the spirit of the Wright Brothers (KSS)

Back at Brad's house, we were served a homemade Tuscan bean soup for lunch, before we departed for home. Many thanks to Debbie and Brad for their hospitality, and to Brad for his tour guide and chauffeur services!