It’s tough being a critic, especially a blogging one. No matter one’s natural tendencies to want to like something, you also tend to see the flaws and the disappointments, then end up coming off as a scold. So as the year ends, I thought I would mention a few of the many things going on in museum world that are worth applauding.
Here are a few I’ve noticed, in no particular order.
Let’s start at the Cincinnati Art Museum, which faced much turmoil a while back but has had a new director, Cameron Kitchin, for more than a year now (here’s a recent Q&A with him). Since October, the museum has been showing Raphael’s Portrait of a Lady with A Unicorn on loan from the Galleria Borghese in Rome, and if that’s not reason enough so celebrate, there’s also the fact revealed in a recent press release:
With the reopening of the third-floor contemporary gallery and the recent reopening of the Cincinnati Wing pre-Civil War galleries, Antiquities, and new first-floor galleries, there will be more for Art Museum visitors to see than ever before.
Second, an announcement from the Detroit Institute of Art this morning that it would grant free admission to a special exhibition called 30 Americans from Dec. 28 through Jan. 3, AND extend its hours during those days–noteworthy in itself–reminded me that I had intended to call out the museum for what is it doing to thank Michigan residents outside of Detroit for supporting the Grand Bargain. Last summer, it began a series of loan exhibitions, school programs, conservation and professional services for other museums, etc. throughout the state and it sent individual loans to a long list of museums around the state. It’s easy to forget to remember, and the DIA did not.
So many museums are offering performing arts nowadays, and I was pleased to see notice of a couple of exhibitions that combined the two–with one caveat, which is that I have not seen either one in person.
The Toledo Museum of Art‘s Degas and the Dance presents six of his dancer sculptures, plus other works (including the painting above), and since it “is presented in celebration of The Toledo Ballet’s 75th annual performance of The Nutcracker, it also includes a section of memorabilia and costumes lent by the ballet. Plus, visitors can see dance rehearsal, films and more.
The San Diego Museum of Art, meanwhile, is offering The Art of Music, which pays tribute to daily musical performances in Balboa Park, its locale. “Community” is a byword in museum talk these days, and here are two examples that connect museums to their community without losing sight of their art.
Last May, the Indianapolis Star wrote an interesting piece about an education program at the Indianapolis Museum of Art that began this past summer:
The IMA is partnering with St. Mary’s Child Center to create the nation’s first preschool at an encyclopedic art museum. The 16-student pilot program, which begins Aug. 3, invests in the idea that education focused on creative expression and material-based learning can make a lifelong change to 3- to 5-year-olds….
The museum is raising money to provide scholarships to eight students from families who rely on government assistance. Their families will also receive museum memberships.
Here’s the release with more details. It sounds promising, though the tuition is steep. I hope to learn more about how the first term worked out.
Photo Credit: The Toledo Museum of ArtÂ