Cincinnati art museum and my lack of art museum education
In the past, I did not go to museums very often. I simply thought they were boring. I think that this came from the fact that, when I was in elementary school, they would always take us on field trips to art museums.
And guess what, we always thought it was boring simply because we were too young and we did not know how to really appreciate art at that point. So I am a little bit ashamed to say that, since elementary school, I have not visited any museums until this year. That is a long time, I know. So how did I end up going to an art museum?
A guy I like(d) (yeah, my love life is non existent at the moment), asked me out on a date, and he suggested the Cincinnati art museum. Of course I agreed, since his company was the important part and I did not really care where we are going. And I must admit that I really enjoyed the museum, but not just because of the guy.
The art that is displayed there can really accommodate every taste. So far, I visited Cincinnati art museum three times, and each time I discovered something new. And of course I am just a little bit mad at myself for not visiting more art museums.
The exterior of the Cincinnati art museum is almost as majestic as its interior.
How to get there and best times to visit
Cincinnati art museum is situated in a lush, green area of Cincinnati, more precisely on the 953 Eden park drive. It is fairly easy to get there and since the museum is situated on the top of a small hill, you will be able to see some pretty cool views of Cincinnati from there.
The Cincinnati art museum is open daily from eleven o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the evening, and it is so big that the crowds will be distributed through the museum, so it will never feel like a crowded place.
This is one of the Cincinnati art museum's galleries on what it is considered a busy day.
However, finding a parking spot on the main parking can be a hassle, so you have two options. You can either drive around in circles until someone leaves, or you can drive your car to the parking lot in the back of the Cincinnati art museum. Both parking lots are free, the only difference is that if you park in the back, you have to walk all the way up to the entrance.
The first thing you will see in front of the entrance, is a giant Pinocchio statue, situated in the middle of a roundabout, and this is a cool place to take a picture. You will see many people trying to recreate Pinocchio’s pose, and when you are driving through that roundabout, please be careful, because some people will literally stand in the middle of the road while taking pictures.
Admission
The admission to the Cincinnati art museum is free, but you can always donate some money. However, there is always one exhibition that you have to pay for, but from my experience, it is always worth paying for it. And it only costs three dollars extra. Two of the exhibits that you have to pay for that I have visited so far, were the ancient Chinese armor exhibit and the fashion exhibit.
The ancient Chinese armor exhibit was pretty amazing. To be honest, I am not a big fan of Asian history, but I loved the display. Whet I especially liked is that every displayed piece was clearly described and illustrated, and the lights in the exhibit hall ware very dimmed, which created a pretty intimate experience.
And the fashion exhibit? Do not be fooled, this is not the fashion you would want to wear in the streets (well, unless you are incredibly eccentric), but it indeed is a pretty cool thing to see. All the dresses in the exhibit were created by an aspiring designer Iris van Herpen, and they are all Lady GaGa style dresses. I really wish I could try one on just to see how (un)comfortable these dresses are.
This was one of the dresses in the fashion exhibit.
Gift shop
But let me get back to the entrance. When you enter the Cincinnati art museum, you will first notice the information desk, where you can also purchase tickets for special exhibits. On the left side, there is a gift shop, and if you are strong enough not to buy anything in there, I really admire you. Seriously, they have so many cool things that it was impossible for me to leave empty handed.
From Christmas tree ornaments, to calendars, statues, artwork recreations, to pens, paper weights, glasses and so on. And the prices are not too high, especially if you keep in mind the fact that the items are of a very high quality. So if you are looking for a Christmas or birthday present to someone who loves art, you might as well get in in the Cincinnati art museum’s gift shop.
The Cincinnati art museum's gift shop was decorated for Christmas in the middle of November already.
Exhibitions
Like I already mentioned, Cincinnati art museum has some temporary exhibitions, for which you have to pay, but most of the exhibitions there are permanent. I am not going to list all of them, simply because Cincinnati art museum is too big and I did not even have a chance to see everything yet, so the ones I will describe, were my absolute favourites.
The most memorable one is the exhibit that displays the art of the ancient civilizations. They have a few objects from the Ancient Egypt, including a mummy in a sarcophagus and some objects with hyerogliphs on them. This was my first time ever seeing actual hyerogliphs and I was extremely surprised about how small they are.
I have always assumed that the hyerogliphs are at least few inches big, since ancient Egyptians had to carve them into stone, and it just seemed impossible to me to make tiny ones. But in real life, they are about as big as a regular human handwriting, and I can only imagine how precise the people who carved them, had to be.
The next exhibit is situated in the room, adjacent to the Ancient Egypt, and it features African art, including totems and some pretty creepy ritual masks. Every object is clearly described, and there are always some staff members walking around each exhibit, available to answer any of the questions you might have.
The one sad part of this exhibit was the engraved ivory. I mean, do not get me wrong, the artwork itself was beautiful, and I cannot even imagine how much work the artist put into it, but it still makes me incredibly sad that an animal had to day just so I can now admire the work of art at the museum.
After seeing these two exhibits, I moved up to the first floor of the Cincinnati art museum. The staircases the take you up there, are simply beautiful, and only when you reach the first floor, you will get the feeling about how big the museum actually is.
The first exhibit that I decided to see on the first floor, was the European art collection, simply because I am originally from Europe, and I wanted to feel like at home again. I was actually very surprised how big the European collection is. I mean, I would expect to find so many works of art somewhere in Europe, not on a different continent!
Some of the frames are almost as interesting as the pictures in them.
The modern photography exhibition was also one of my favourites. When I travel, I always take a lot of pictures, but I am still using the basic point and shoot camera. So my pictures are pretty average. But the photographs that are displayed in Cincinnati art museum, are out of this world.
They are displaying works from several different photographers, and some of the most notable ones were definitely the city photographs and landscape photographs. And the good thing is that you can also buy replicas of some of the displayed photographs in the Cincinnati art museum’s amazing gift shop.
Glass works was another extremely interesting exhibition that I saw on my last visit to the Cincinnati art museum, and I was pretty amazed. The works of art, displayed in that exhibition, are incredibly colourful and they come in very interesting shapes.
At this point, I would like to mention that photography is permitted in most of the displays, but you are, of course, not allowed to use flash, because it can damage the works of art, bit there are some exceptions, and the glass works is one of them. And I am not a big art collector (in fact, I have no framed pictures on my walls), but I would love to have some of the items from their glass works collection as my home decor.
Decorative arts exhibits are situated throughout the museum, and some of the pieces are pretty impressive. The collection mostly features furniture, but also some impressive ceramic works and other home decor. If you are looking to decorate your house, you might get some good ideas while looking at the displayed items.
And last but not least, the contemporary art exhibition. I must say that I never quite understood modern art, but I loved this exhibit. Graffiti walls, portraits, splashes of colour and more, this part of the museum was definitely the most mind blowing. They even have some interactive exhibits that you can help create!
Free guided tours
Cincinnati art museum offers free guided tours, and they focus on different topics. So far, I have attended two tours. The first tour was a regular guided tour, where the staff member briefly walked us through all the exhibits and explained the most important works of art. The tour lasted forty five minutes, and it was very informative.
The second guided tour that I attended, was the sketching tour. The museum provides a sketch pad, different pencils, an eraser and a pencil sharpener, all stored in a cute red plastic pouch. At first, I thought that we can keep the art supplies, but then the staff member told us that we have to return everything at the end of the tour, except for the sketches that we made.
This was the sketching tour pack. Looks pretty cute to me.
So how did the sketching tour look like? The staff member chose three works of art beforehand, each one showing a different style and coming from a different artist and a different period of time. She then explained the key elements of each one of them, and then we tried to sketch it.
This was solely for fun, and you did not even have to show your sketch to anybody, but the staff member was very happy to help with tips for better sketching. We spent twenty minutes sketching each painting, so the whole tour lasted approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.
If you are trying to decide between a regular tour and a sketching tour, I would definitely recommend you to do the sketching tour. It is much different than your regular museum tour, and much more relaxing, since you will actually have time to really look at paintings and analyze them. And I never thought I will say that, but drawing (well, trying to draw) the paintings was incredibly relaxing. I am not very good at drawing, but I still found it really enjoyable.
A few words for the end…
Cincinnati art museum is definitely a place I am planning to visit again soon. Its location just minutes from downtown Cincinnati, the fact that it is free and a variety of different exhibits make it an ideal place to spend a few hours at.
