"Cincinnati Fatback" (12/22/2018)

Saturday, December 22, 2018 (continued)
"Cincinnati Fatback" is a song and album title (1998) by Danny Adler of the Roogalators.
We will get to the pigs later, but first the Taft Museum of Art.

Taft Museum of Art in the Baum-Taft House (1820), was later the
residence of Charles Phelps Taft (half-brother of William Howard Taft),
who with his wife, Anna, were avid art collectors

William Howard Taft accepted the presidential nomination from this house in 1908.

Twisted (2018, by Patrick Dougherty)

We were here to see collections of Christmas decorations.

Colors of Christmas with foil-covered ornaments (1930s) and
German Belsnickle Santa candy containers (1870-1915)

German village objects including
a tall tree that was a sea sponge

Hallway window treatment

Brownie Tree with ornaments based on
fairy-like creatures created by
Canadian author Palmer Cox in the 1880s

Part of a large Asian collection, a bearded
Guandi, Daoist God of War (c 1700)

Rare Umbrella Tree (c 1950 in Japan) made of gold foil
with mercury glass ornaments

A Victorian Christmas Tree with large
cotton-batting ornaments made by the
Pennsylvania Dutch, and candles

Portrait of a Man Rising From His Chair (1633,
by Rembrandt van Rijn), one of "Taft's Top 10"

The Cobbler's Apprentice (1877,
by Frank Duveneck) (KSS)

Frank Duveneck was one of the most important American realists of the 19C. He was born across the river in Covington, KY and studied in Munich, Germany.

Mural (by Tim Parsley and a team of apprentices)
inspired by The Cobbler's Apprentice (12/23/2018) (KSS)

German toys and a haunted ornament (KSS)

German Children's Toys with a rare Erzgebirge wooden ship (KSS)

Dining Room

After leaving the Taft Museum of Art, with the collections nicely displayed within the rooms of the home, we headed towards the riverfront.

Cincinnati Gateway, the entrance to the Bicentennial Commons, with
winged pigs atop the four steamboat stacks that recall a time when
Cincinnati was nicknamed "Porkopolis," and meat packing and
soap manufacturing dominated the local economy

Winged pigs (1988, by Andrew Leicester)

Flood Column showing levels of
three major floods in Cincinnati

The driftwood marks 100 feet

Statue (1988, by Eleftherious Karkadoulias and
Mercene Karkadoulias) of Cincinnatus, the
legendary 4C BCE Roman military leader who
is giving up the bundle of sticks representing
leadership, to return to life as a farmer

"The Cincinnatus Association, which commissioned the work, was founded just after the American Revolution by a group of military officers, and one of its members, Governor [of the Northwest Territory] Arthur St Clair, gave Cincinnati its name."

High waters of the Ohio River (KSS)

Lucius (Lucky) Quinctus Pigasus
(2000, by Eric Reed Greiner) was one of the
Big Pig Gig project statues

Uh, oh, the riverside shortcut is flooded! (KSS)

Ondatra zibethicus/Muskrat; this poor guy probably has a flooded basement

View encompassing a tourist sternwheeler boat, The Ascent at
Roebling's Bridge building (2005-2008, by Daniel Libeskind),
the Roebling Bridge, and the National Steamboat Monument with
a sternwheel paddle above steamboat whistle columns (KSS)

US Bank Arena (1973-1975 as the Riverfront Coliseum) has been
home to various minor league ice hockey teams, and now
for the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League

Moerlein Lager House (2012)

"Beer with a view" at the Moerlein Lager House; and lunch

Great American Ball Park (2000-2003, by HOK Sport/Populous)
home of the Major League Baseball Cincinnati Reds

Statue (2015, by Tom Tsuchiya) of Tony Perez

Statues (2004 & 2003, by Tom Tsuchiya) of
Ernie Lombardi and Frank Robinson (KSS)

Statue (2003, by Tom Tsuchiya) of Joe Nuxhall (KSS)

Statue (2017, by Tom Tsuchiya) of Pete "Charlie Hustle" Rose

Scripps Center (1990)

Carew Tower (1929-1930, designed and built by
Walter W Ahlschlager and Colonel William Starrett) was
part of the same project as the Netherland Plaza Hotel

Fountain Square ice rink

Tyler Davidson Fountain (1871, by August von Kreling)
is the oldest sculpture in Cincinnati, featuring the
Genius of Water surrounded by four adult figures showing
the life-sustaining uses of water, four children illustrate the
life-enhancing pleasures of water, and four relief
panels depict the industrial uses of water

"Cinderella" horse and carriage

Paul Brown Stadium (2000, by Dan Meis of NBBJ), home
of the National Football League Cincinnati Bengals

The Connector (2016), Cincinnati's streetcar line that basically
goes from the Great American Ball Park to Rhinegeist Brewery!

Next: "Leaves Cincinnati headin' down that Dixie line."