Explore Other Worlds Through Art
One of Cleveland's Greatest Treasures: The Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art has always been a place for exploration of other worlds. As a teenager who took studio art classes throughout four years of high school, our field trips became lessons in brush strokes and art history. As a young adult who moved from a major interest in art to a love of literature, I was interested in the lives of Picasso, Gauguin, and Seurat, and the plaques alongside the Museum's collection of paintings gave me insight into how the artists felt about the world in which they lived. The museum is full of stories.

One of Cleveland's greatest treasures, the Cleveland Museum of Art's collection is available to everyone. Many Clevelanders have personal stories to tell about their visits to the CMA as a child, a young adult, or a parent introducing art to a child. Like a book discussion group that forces the reading of books outside one's comfort zone, exhibits at CMA force a different perspective.

The stories of Faberge, Louis Comfort Tiffany and Rene Lalique and the artists that designed their decadent jeweled creations came alive for me at the recent Artistic Luxury exhibition. The jewelry, glassware, and decorative art of the Gilded Age of the 1890s and the earlier twentieth century were a feast of extravagance. Ornate silver centerpieces from the 1900 World’s Fair were adorned with winged horses, grapevines, and monkeys. I witnessed Tiffany mosaics of stain glassed dragonflies, Magnolia windows of muted greens and browns (by Agnes Northrop), and a jungle Tankard fashioned by Paulding Farnham during the native craze. Orchids opened to morning from boxes and dog collar necklaces were jeweled with flowered pearls, gold, opal and diamonds. The age of formal dinners encouraged pink decanters of fish faces, Russian enameled tea service, Tiffany lamps, peacock vases, and delicate Faberge eggs on pedestals. One took in the stories of the wealthy of that time period by viewing the art.

The central African Savannah's golden-colored grasslands and ancient wisdom are the background against which the Cleveland Museum of Art's current original exhibition Art and Power in the Central African Savannah should be experienced. Brought to the north coast by curators Costa Petridis, CMA curator of African Art, and Tom Hinson, CMA curator of Photography, the exhibition features close to 60 sculptures created by artists of four Central African cultures: the Luba, Songye, Chokwe, and Luluwa. The sculptures are carved primarily from wood found on the savannah and have been used as containers for magical ingredients to serve religious and political purposes.

Central Africa is being exhibited with Friedlander, the largest and most comprehensive survey to date of the works of photographer Lee Friedlander. More than 350 Friedlander prints explore the artist at work as his story is told through the photographs. The range of his subject matter, intelligence and wit are displayed in the prints as well as special edition and trade books that trace a five-decade career. These special exhibits can be witnessed now through May 31.

The outstanding connection between the Museum and its audience continues through exhibition talks, first-run films, the book club, and performance art that enhance the special exhibits. Erik Friedlander, son of Lee Friedlander, performed a multi-media event of cello music with travel imagery last week; The Curious Life and Death of Power Objects in Central Africa, examined by Columbia University professor Zoe S. Strother, takes place Saturday March 28 at 2:30PM and furthers interpretation of the African Savannah exhibit.

The Museum's book club is also quite intriguing. The group meets for four Wednesday afternoons to learn about art history through fiction and narrative non-fiction. And the theatrical premier of Elegy of Life: Rostropovich, Vishnevskaya runs this Sunday, March 15, at 1:30PM.

Intriguing music flavors artistic experience when on March 21, at 7:30PM, Alarm Will Sound's 1969 music-theater event tells the stories of the revolutionaries of that pivotal year. That program, and the French ensemble Lo Cor de la Plana (March 29 at 7:30PM) take place in the Murch Auditorium of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Only partially open during its historic renovation, the Museum Café and Store have been relocated just inside the entrance and an art detour delivers guests to the 1916 museum main floor and the west wing special exhibit gallery. What one can see of the remodeling is light and color and ambience. The newly-painted walls are pale gray-green and warm beiges and browns above pink-veined marble lit by harnessed natural light and wall sconces. When the renowned museum is fully open, we'll definitely want to soak up the new space.

Look for other upcoming CMA programming at PlayhouseSquare and the Cleveland Playhouse as CMA continues to deliver wonderful programming during the renovation. To learn more about programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art, visit http://www.clevelandart.org or call 888-CMA-0033. The Museum is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10AM until 5PM and Wednesdays and Fridays 10AM until 9PM. It's located at 11150 East Boulevard, University Circle.

From Cool Cleveland contributor Claudia J. Taller ctallerwritesATwowway.com
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