4 More: Monuments Men
Paintings, Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America opened in July with a powerful local connection. Peter Jonathan Bell talks about what that history can teach us.
As part of our year-end issue, we are revisiting Cincinnati People interviews from 2021.
We checked in with Peter Jonathan Bell curator of European Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings, Cincinnati Art Museum since we last spoke with him about the exhibition Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America
The original interview from July is below.
WHAT’S BEEN THE BIGGEST SURPRISE TO YOU IN 2021?
I’ve been bowled over by the strength of response, throughout this second year of the pandemic, to everything the museum does—from neighbors engaging with Art Climb, to visitors flocking to see our exhibitions and spend time in the galleries, to donors stepping up to support new acquisitions and campus improvements—I feel in this year, more than ever, the power of art and just how much that can mean for our community.
WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE WE LAST SPOKE?
Paintings Politics and the Monuments Men, the exhibition we talked about, closed in October, and so my focus has shifted from the immediacy of engaging with folks in and around that exhibition to plans for the future—exhibitions, publications, gallery updates, and conservation treatments—some projects that will bear fruit early in the new year, others that will come to life three or four years down the road.
WHAT DID YOU LEARN ABOUT CINCINNATI?
Our community really responded to the show. I heard from someone who vividly remembers visiting the Berlin Masterpieces exhibition in Washington DC in 1948; I met the nephew of another Monuments Man who had worked alongside Walter Farmer protecting art in Europe; I was able to speak about the exhibition with military service members working right now to preserve cultural heritage around the world. It drove home for me that people in this city and region are rich in experiences and invested in understanding and sharing history and bringing its lessons forward to today.
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2022?
Traveling! A big part of my professional remit, intellectual development and personal joy involves traveling to engage with art, which has been largely on hold during the COVID era. I am eager to resume regular travel within the country and to Europe in 2022.
The 2014 George Clooney explored a group of American and British men and women – museum curators, art historians, librarians, architects, even artists – responsible for preserving the artistic and cultural achievements of western civilization from the destruction of war and theft by the Nazis.
A number of those works are now on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum in the exhibition Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America. Peter Jonathan Bell, the Musuem’s curator of European paintings, sculpture and drawings, offers us an inside look at the exhibition and the stories behind preserving these masterpieces.
4 MORE: Borrowed Gems
With the Taft Museum of Art under renovation, many of its masterworks are on view at Cincinnati Museum Center. Deborah Emont Scott and Elizabeth Pierce offer a look to the future for both museums.
As part of our year-end issue, we are revisiting Cincinnati People interviews from 2021.
We checked in with Deborah Emont Scott, The Louise Taft Semple President/CEO of the Taft Museum of Art, and Elizabeth Pierce, CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center, who we spoke to about Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art, an exhibition of 47 works from the Taft currently on view at CMC.
The original interview about the exhibition from July is below.
Deborah Emont Scott, The Louise Taft Semple President/CEO
What’s been the biggest surprise to you in 2021?
The success of our museum’s mission and the love we receive by our community during these trying times have been heartwarming. It is truly because of our dedicated team and passionate partners like the Cincinnati Museum Center that the Taft Museum of Art’s historic house will thrive for another 200 years. Their advocacy and support were integral in keeping the Bicentennial Infrastructure Project moving forward as we sought a temporary home for nearly 40 works in our collection—amidst a pandemic.
What’s changed since we last spoke?
Our bicentennial exhibitions, In a New Light: Treasures from the Taft in our Fifth Third Gallery and Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art on loan to Cincinnati Museum Center, are now in their final months. This means we are approaching a new and exciting phase of the project, reinterpreting and reinstalling our historic house collection alongside the debut of the newly restored and preserved home. For example, some works have never had labels before—which will allow us to share more educational and artistic resources with the public—while some works have been restored after quite some time off view.
During this time, we have also diligently continued to raise funds for the Love This House campaign, which supports the Bicentennial Infrastructure Project. We are now 80% of the way to our goal of $12.7 million!
What did you learn about Cincinnati?
Cincinnati is a place where people care about its history and culture. Since both the Taft and the Cincinnati Museum Center are so interwoven into the fabric of the Queen City, visitors to both exhibitions have been able to find a part of themselves in our collection, its history, and the insight it continues to provide to 21st century audiences. Visitors will soon too be able to further experience this within the Taft historic house.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
As the Taft Museum of Art celebrates our 90th birthday this year, we are also elated to be in the final stretches of our Bicentennial Infrastructure Project! It has been a unique pleasure to share this experience with our city and I look forward to the grand reveal of the house, alongside our cinematic exhibition this June, Jane Austen: Fashion & Sensibility, our Light Up the Night Gala, and celebrating with community events—further exploring the living art and history this place holds.
Elizabeth Pierce, President and CEO
What’s been the biggest surprise to you in 2021?
The biggest surprise is that 2021 has felt more difficult in some ways than 2020.
What’s changed since we last spoke?
Since we talked in July about Borrowed Gems, the Holiday Trains have opened and we are welcoming lots of people back to Union Terminal. Visitors are loving the Ice Age Trail, which opened in July for the first time in five years. As a destination experience, we are continuing to adapt working hours and working styles appreciating the financial ups and protecting against the financial downs of our business.
What did you learn about Cincinnati?
This exhibition of the Taft’s Borrowed Gems gave me a greater understanding of Charles and Anna’s desire to inspire the artisans and makers in the community. And, working on other projects that are upcoming in 2022, we see the impact of inspiration. We have new experiences upcoming in the history museum focused on items and companies “made in Cincinnati” influenced by the creativity that Taft’s shared with our region.
What are you most looking forward to in 2022?
The schedule of really interesting projects we’ve been working on to debut in 2022. In April, Our Shared Story celebrating 200 years of Jewish settlement and impact in Cincinnati will be wonderful. There are so many aspects of Cincinnati tied to this bicentennial, I think people will really be surprised and delighted to make these connections. Starting in May , we’re celebrating “America’s Epic Treasures” with a great package of our 19th century American landscape art, paired with immersive paintings from Michael Scott and his Preternatural collection, paired with an incredible OMNIMAX voyage Into America’s Wild. Then, on Nov. 4, 2022, we’ll have our next party, Layers of Nature, when we’ll be joyfully eating, drinking, and dancing through the layers of Union Terminal as part of the celebration and installation of our permanent exhibit named for John and Judy Ruthven, Get Into Nature.
These are all long-time projects coming to fruition and will make this community smile in many ways. Lots of great community partnerships and projects that celebrate history, science, art, curiosity, and more!
Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) is partnering with the Taft Museum of Art to care for nearly 50 artworks during the restoration of the Taft’s 200-year-old historic house. These works will be showcased at CMC in the featured exhibition Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art. Borrowed Gems opens Friday.
Borrowed Gems showcases the collection of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft, displaying work from masters including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Charles François Daubigny, J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Gainsborough, in addition to decorative arts featuring Qing dynasty Chinese ceramics and 18th-century watches. The exhibition continues the reinterpretation of the Taft’s permanent collection, covering a broad range of eras, cultures and art forms and the Taft’s More to the Story interpretive texts, providing audiences a more diverse understanding of history. Select works are also highlighted with Closer Look labels to engage families and children with self-guided learning prompts.
Organized by subject matter, Borrowed Gems shows the full range of paintings collected by the Tafts. The couple enjoyed collecting portraits, scenes from daily life and landscapes that could also serve as educational models for artists working in Cincinnati who would look at, and even copy, works by masters of the past. Highlighted portraits in the exhibition include British works such as Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Joshua Reynolds’ Mrs. Stephen Payne-Gallwey and Her Son Charles. These works continue to offer insights today, providing context into the stories behind the faces seen in the paintings. The portraits are accompanied by 18th-century European watches made of gold and precious gems, bought by the Tafts to inspire Cincinnati’s watchmaking industry. Rather than precision timepieces, these watches are miniature works of art that demonstrated their owners’ fascination with technology. Each watch in Borrowed Gems required the hand of many skilled artisans, from goldsmiths to enamelers to the makers of the movement.
Borrowed Gems also features paintings and porcelains made by Chinese, Dutch, English and French artists of the 18th and 19th centuries portraying people, illustrating narratives and depicting scenes from daily life. The varied cultures and time periods represented in the collection point to the universal impulse to examine relationships and tell stories. Exhibition features include Jean-Francois Millet’s Mother and Child, Anton Mauve’s Cattle Grazing and Adriaen van Ostade’s Interior of an Inn with Three Men and a Boy, which share scenes of people at work, tender family moments and playful vignettes of childhood. Works from the Taft’s collection featured in Borrowed Gems also showcase Chinese vases that illustrate action-filled narratives from Chinese history and literature such as the Vase with the Battle of Kunyang.
Landscapes in the exhibition feature vistas of the French, Dutch and English countryside by painters including J. M. W. Turner’s The Trout Stream and multiple works by Camille Corot. These paintings likely provided respite to the Tafts as they lived in the heart of downtown surrounded by newly built factories. A selection of landscape-inspired Chinese porcelains with designs derived by nature such as the Vase with Lotus Flowers is also on display in the exhibition. During their lifetimes, the Tafts invited artists to see the works from their collections in their home, hoping to encourage creativity in the arts and even inspiring Rookwood Pottery artists with their more than 200 pieces of Chinese ceramics.
Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art is open through February 21, 2022 in the John A. Ruthven Gallery and the William L. Mallory Sr. Gallery at Cincinnati Museum Center. Admission is free.
4 MORE: Bibi
Bibi and Fiona have seen some major changes since May, as we check in with them about the BIG difference in their lives and how things look for the future.
As part of our year-end issue, we are revisiting Cincinnati People interviews from 2021.
We checked in with Bibi, via Wendy Rice, senior keeper at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.
The original interview from May is below.
WHAT’S BEEN THE BIGGEST SURPRISE TO YOU IN 2021?
From Bibi’s perspective, I would say the addition of a 4,100-pound male hippo has by far been the biggest surprise of 2021!
Obviously there’s no way for us to share our plans or intentions to the animals in our care, so the addition of new individuals is always a surprise for them! We’ve been so lucky that Tucker has been a perfect gentleman and has made the introduction process very easy. It was really scary for our team because Fiona is a little on the smaller side and Tucker ended up being MUCH larger than our previous male hippo (Fiona’s father), Henry, so we were definitely concerned about how well they would get along and whether or not Fiona would be able to hold her own during the sparring and rough-housing that is always part of establishing a new social grouping. But fortunately, Tucker has been great with both of our girls!
WHAT’S CHANGED SINCE WE LAST SPOKE?
Similarly, the addition of Tucker has been the biggest change in Bibi’s life and her role as mother to Fiona. It can be really hard for the keeper staff to interpret the intentions and motivations of our animals, but we can’t help but wonder if Bibi feels like she needs to protect Fiona from Tucker. Tucker hasn’t acted aggressively or anything, but Bibi has always seemed to understand that Fiona is smaller and younger and should be interacted with in a very specific and age-appropriate way. Bibi was so good at both coaching and refereeing Fiona and Henry’s interactions so we anticipated that she would probably do the same with Tucker and Fiona, but that hasn’t necessarily been the case. We suspect that because Fiona is much older now, Bibi doesn’t feel like she needs to intervene much (if at all) in their socializations, and for the most part, she’s been letting the two of them establish their own dynamic without much interference.
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT CINCINNATI?
Our Cincinnati community continues to be as amazing, loving and supportive as ever! Tucker has been fully embraced with open arms and it’s been really cool to watch our guests have “wow” moments with him! Tucker isn’t comfortable participating in the feedings that happen at our Behind-The-Scenes area on habitat, so during those moments he’s usually checking out the guests thru the windows…he’ll stand on his back feet in the deep end and push his front feet and face against the window and that puts him at eye level with our guests. Kids absolutely LOVE it! He’s really developing his own fan base and quickly becoming a favorite for many guests!
WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWARD TO IN 2022?
I would guess that our hippos are looking forward to having their social hierarchy all sorted out in 2022 and gaining familiarity and comfort with each other. The process is taking as long as it needs to and we’re moving at a slow but steady pace with the hopes of establishing a happy and stable bloat of 3. We also look forward to many more of our guests (across the country and internationally) returning to visit us again after the long absences that were made necessary by covid. All in all, the future is looking bright for our Cincy Zoo hippos!
Holiday Spirits
Choosing wine for holiday parties or family dinners? Find expert advice and a great selection at Hart & Cru. Kevin Hart guides you through crowd-pleasing favorites to serve and delicious gifts options to delight.
Kevin Hart is an experienced sommelier and dedicated student of the vine. Working at some of the best restaurants in the city, he developed his palate for pairing food and wine. He has now turned his attention to wine full time with the opening of Hart & Cru.
Hart & Cru is at 1206 Broadway in Pendleton. Find more information at hartandcru.com.
Christmastime Is Here
Norm Lewis, the Tony-nominated star who has become synonymous with Christmas in New York, bring the greatest Christmas songs and Broadway showstoppers to Cincinnati as part of Flow, an African American Arts Experience presented by ArtsWave.
Christmas isn’t Christmas in New York without Norm Lewis. His annual holiday shows – filled with Christmas classics and Broadway standards – are as much a tradition as ice skating at Rockefeller Center and seeing the Rockettes.
He brings his special holiday concert experience to Cincinnati on Dec. 3 and 4, with “Norm Lewis: Naughty and Nice,” at the Aronoff Center, part of Flow, an African American Arts Experience presented by ArtsWave. Find tickets at artswave.org/norm.
Giving Thanks
For the past 15 years, Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment has given back on Thanksgiving, showing their appreciation to first responders the best way they know how, with delicious food and warm hospitality.
Approximately 100 turkeys were dropped off to Anderson Township Fire & Rescue personnel by the Jeff Ruby family, owners and operators of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment.
Assistant Chief Bob Herrlinger received the turkeys at the Fire & Rescue station, 7954 Beechmont Avenue today at 12:30 p.m.
Turkeys were also dropped off to first responders in Columbus and Nashville last week. Since 2015, Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment has provided more than 3,000 turkeys to first responders and their families.
Adventure Is Out There
Elizabeth Pierce, CEO of Cincinnati Museum Center, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at The Science Behind Pixar, which opened Friday. The interactive exhibition showcases the boundless limits of STEM, imagination and curiosity, thrilling guests as they come face-to-face with popular characters, including Buzz Lightyear, Dory, Mike and Sulley, Edna Mode and WALL•E.
If You Go
The Science Behind Pixar is open through April 24, 2022. Tickets are available at cincymuseum.org/pixar.
TICKETS:
Adult $19.50
Child $15.50
Senior $15.50
CMC Member Adult $13.50
CMC Member Child $9.50
The Science Behind Pixar is supported locally by Anne Drackett Thomas.
Through eight interactive areas, The Science Behind Pixar empowers guests to imagine the STEM concepts behind Pixar’s films by shining a lamp on eight of the steps in the filmmaking process – modeling, rigging, surfaces, sets and cameras, animation, simulation, lighting and rendering. The exhibition delivers an unparalleled view of the production pipeline used by Pixar’s artists and computer scientists, featuring more than 50 interactive elements.
Films and characters represented in the exhibition include Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, Brave, The Incredibles, Up, WALL•E, Monsters, Inc., Cars, Luca and more.
To better understand the science and math that goes into creating the worlds and characters of Pixar’s films, guests will hear first-hand from members of the studios’ production teams. You will also be invited to experience different roles within the production pipeline through screen-based activities and physical interactive elements.
Some of the activities included in the exhibition:
Discover how camera placement and angles created a bug’s-eye view in A Bug’s Life
Create a digital sculpture from an artist’s sketch
Use lights to solve challenges similar to ones faced by Pixar in creating underwater scenes in Finding Nemo
See how models are given a virtual skeleton that enables animators to pose them
Build a robot inspired by those in WALL•E
Try your hand at stop-motion animation of a jumping lamp and watch a short film of what you produced
See and touch scale models of many of Pixar’s beloved characters (except Mike and Sulley. We don’t want a code 2319).
Just Desserts
Kat Steiner, chief philanthroply officer at Meals on Wheels Southwest OH & Northern KY, shares the details on how you can make life sweeter for area seniors, and treat your family to delicious pies for Thanksgiving. Any way you slice it, Bust A Crust! is a great idea.
Pick up a pie. Help a senior!
Meals on Wheels of Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky is offering a selection of pumpkin, pecan, apple, and sweet potato pies donated by local bakeries and restaurants.
This year’s Bust A Crust! also includes a hometown legend – Frisch’s Pumpkin Pie! The featured celebrity pie is from Chef Jean-Francois Flechet from Taste of Belgium. His Apricot White Chocolate Pie is inspired by Belgian baking.
To order Thanksgiving pies, or donate to Meals on Wheels, visit bustacrust.org.
Park Life
Great Parks manages more than 17,600 acres of greenspace, including more than 25 miles of river frontage, and has more than 78 miles of trails across Hamilton County. With a Comprehensive Master Plan to expand trails, develop more programming, increase accessibility, and even more improvements within the already popular parks system, CEO Todd Palmeter is guiding Great Parks into the future.
Todd Palmeter, CEO of Great Parks, talks about what the future holds for the largest and most diverse inventories of parks, natures preserves and conservation areas in the state.
Find out more about Great Parks Forever fund raiser on Oct. 15
Shining Star
Britney Ruby Miller has faced many obstacles in her life—extreme challenges to her faith, her family, her marriage, and her business. In her new book, 5-Star Life: The Faithful Fight to Overcome Obstacles and Pursue Excellence she reflects on striving for excellence on her personal journey and she shares insights gained while working to attain a 5-star life.
“My family has always strived for five-star reviews from our critics. It’s how we know if we’re maintaining the standard of excellence we’re committed to. It’s our legacy. If I were to review and rate my life, I would have to give it five stars. Not because it’s been perfect but because of what my God did with the imperfections. I wouldn’t change the terrible, horrible, awful parts because I’ve learned that victory and miracles are real.”
—Britney Ruby Miller
The CEO of Jeff Ruby Culinary Entertainment, the vivacious, excellence-driven Britney Ruby Miller, is the daughter of the celebrated restauranteur who founded the company, and she is immensely proud to be leading the company to even new heights.
Her book is available locally at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Find out more at www.britrubymiller.com/books,
A Walk in the Park
The largest one-day art show in Greater Cincinnati returns on Sunday, Oct. 3! After a hiatus in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Hyde Park Square Art Show features more than 200 artists representing media from painting to sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photography, multimedia and more. Get a preview of this long-standing event from organizer Janet Smith.
The Hyde Park Square Art Show will return on Sunday, Oct. 3 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Hyde Park Square at Edwards Road and Erie Ave.
The largest one-day art show in Greater Cincinnati features more than 200 artists representing media from painting to sculpture, ceramics, jewelry, photography, multimedia and more. Most of the exhibitors featured at the Hyde Park Square Art Show are local artists.
The show features artists working in all media including painting, sculpture, photography, ceramics, jewelry, fiber, crafts and multi-media. For more information about the Hyde Park Square Art Show, visit hydeparksquare.org.
Growth Opportunity
In his new exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Center, Grave/Grove, artist Sreshta Rit Premnath explores how shared spaces of growth and care, such as community gardens or nurseries, can be found even in the most difficult of places and the often complex relationship that so-called outsiders have to the land they occupy.
The Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in Cincinnati presents an exhibition of new sculptural works and ink drawings by multimedia artist Sreshta Rit Premnath, organized in partnership with the MIT List Visual Arts Center.
If You Go
The Contemporary Arts Center, 44 E. Sixth St.
www.contemporaryartscenter.org
Open
Wednesday: 10 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Thursday - Friday: 12 – 7 p.m.
Saturday: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Closed Sunday – Tuesday
Grave/Grove examines the ways in which natural, political, and human time are interconnected. The exhibition reflects the artist’s interest in how shared spaces of growth and care, such as community gardens or nurseries, can be embedded within dehumanizing spaces of collective discipline and confinement, such as detention centers or refugee camps. Curated by Amara Antilla, Senior Curator at the CAC, and Natalie Bell, Curator at the List Center, the exhibition opens at the CAC on September 17, 2021, and remains on view through February 27, 2022. The List Center will present a related exhibition from October 22, 2021, through February 13, 2022.
Cover image: Detail view: Sreshta Rit Premnath (b. 1979, Bangalore; lives and works in Brooklyn), Fold 2, 2021. Aluminum, weeds, plastic, IV tube, galvanized steel wire, dimensions variable. Cour tesy of the artist. Photo: Wes Battoclette.
Course of Action
The LPGA announced many of the best golfers in the world will be returning to Cincinnati for the inaugural Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G next September at Kenwood Country Club . We talk to Nancy Lopez, a former LPGA Player of the Year, about bringing a new, high-profile championship back to the city,
The LPGA announced today many of the best golfers in the world will be returning to Cincinnati for the next three years. The inaugural Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G will be played September 5-11, 2022, at Kenwood Country Club featuring a purse of $1.75 million dollars and over 12 hours of live Golf Channel coverage distributed around the globe.
Building on long-standing commitments to empower diverse women leaders both within their organizations and in the broader community, Kroger, P&G and the LPGA will host a unique opportunity for more than 100 local women to enhance their leadership skills and expand their networks through multiple workshops. The organizations look forward to bringing these women together to build new connections, access targeted resources, and learn from each other and from inspirational corporate executives and sports icons. Kroger, P&G and the LPGA are committed to using their collective resources and connections to create a long-term impact for women throughout the community. Details about the program will be announced in the coming months.
At the announcement LPGA Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan was joined by Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez and Lexi Thompson, 11-time LPGA tour champion, along with executives from The Kroger Co., The Procter & Gamble Company and members of The First Tee of Cincinnati.
Nancy Lopez, LPGA Champion in 1978, 1985 and 1989. Cincinnati’s history with women’s professional golf dates back to 1963 when Kenwood Country Club hosted the U.S. Women’s Open. From 1978 to 1989, Cincinnati hosted the LPGA Championship at the Golf Center at Kings Island where Lopez won three times on the Jack Nicklaus-designed course.
“The LPGA is thrilled to return to Cincinnati, or the Queen City as we are fondly referring to it in our tournament name,” said LPGA Tour Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan. “Cincinnati has a long connection to the LPGA and its players. We know this tournament will be a favorite stop on Tour and serve as an important example of the power of sports to inspire leaders and build community. We are truly grateful to Kroger and P&G for supporting the LPGA in such an impactful and meaningful way.”
“Kroger is excited to bring the opportunity for the LPGA and its golfers to compete on this national stage to our hometown,” said Stuart Aitken, chief merchant and marketing officer and executive sponsor of the Women’s EDGE Associate Resource Group for The Kroger Co. “As a passionate supporter of the empowerment of women, I am personally inspired by the collaboration between Kroger, P&G and the LPGA to further their mission of empowering girls and women on and off the golf course.”
“We are thrilled to welcome the world-class athletes of the LPGA back to Cincinnati, and to inspire hundreds of local girls – and all youth – to play golf and other sports, realizing the lifetime benefits of the lessons and skills learned through sports,” said Debbie Majoras, chief legal officer for P&G and member of the US Golf Association Executive Committee. “At P&G, we work to eliminate gender bias and create equal opportunity for all individuals, and so we also are excited to partner with Kroger and the LPGA to engage and empower more than 100 local women leaders from across our community.”
The Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G is owned and operated by Excel Sports Management, a marketing and management agency that has operated all four versions of Capital One’s The Match.
“The Cincinnati community shows an unmatched passion for its hometown teams and sporting events,” said Kevin Hopkins, executive director of the event for Excel Sports Management. “Our goal is to create a really special experience for this fan base and make this world-class golf tournament a must-attend event on the Cincinnati calendar.”
The LPGA’s developmental tour, the Symetra Tour, has called the Queen City its home for the better part of the last 15 years, most recently hosting the Prasco Charity Championship since 2018.
Kenwood Country Club recently celebrated its 90-year anniversary by renovating its 36-hole layout. Kenwood officials say welcoming the LPGA’s finest will only help to further establish the course as one of the premier Championship golf courses in the state.
“We take a tremendous amount of pride in hosting the LPGA here at Kenwood Country Club and can’t wait to showcase our beautiful golf course to the world,” said Denise Kuprionis, the first female president of the Kenwood Country Club Board of Trustees, who was recently acknowledged as the Top Club President in the Nation as presented by BoardRoom Magazine.
History Lesson
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Jewish community life in the city of Cincinnati. The Jewish community and the City of Cincinnati, along with dozens of community partners, commemorates this significant milestone through celebrations, multi-generational programs and interactive experiences. Find out more about this celebration as we talk to Tamara Harkavy and Marie Krulewitch-Brown.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Jewish community life in the city of Cincinnati, which formally began with the founding of Chestnut Street Cemetery in the historic West End. The Jewish community and the City of Cincinnati along with dozens of community partners will commemorate this significant milestone through celebrations, multi-generational programs and interactive experiences.
Some 50 exhibitions, programs, concerts and festivals will mark the Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial from September 2021 through October 2022. Additional events will be added throughout the celebration.
Under One Roof Art Exhibit
Sept. 20–30, 2021, Mayerson Jewish Community Center, 8485 Ridge Avenue, Free
Celebrate the festival of Sukkot, the Jewish festival of giving thanks for the fall harvest, with this community art exhibit. The exhibit features artwork designed by groups and individuals around their interpretation of this year’s central theme, “Resilience and Renewal.” The exhibit will be on display in a temporary sukkah (hut) in the courtyard.
Under One Roof Art Opening
Sept. 20, 5:30–7 p.m., Mayerson Jewish Community Center, 8485 Ridge Avenue, Free with RSVP
Enjoy an evening of art, music, and light appetizers inside our sukkah, highlighting works of art created by individuals and organizations across the community. View the multimedia panels exploring this year’s theme, “Resilience and Renewal,” on display to celebrate the festival of Sukkot. Under One Roof is made possible by Presenting Sponsor The Rockwern Charitable Foundation. This program is funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati and The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati.
ish Festival
Sept. 25–26, Washington Park, Over-the-Rhine, Free
ish opens with a night market and concert featuring Matisyahu on Saturday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. and continues on Sunday, Sept. 26 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. This arts and culture event will kick off the year-long Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial.
Rededication: Chestnut Street Cemetery
Sept. 26, 10 a.m., Chestnut Street Cemetery, 400 Chestnut Street in the West End
Celebrate the restoration of the Chestnut Street Cemetery, the oldest Jewish Cemetery west of the Alleghenies. This event is the formal kick-off of Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial.
Jewish Cincinnati Historic Tours with Miles Wolf Photo Commission
September 2021 – Oct. 2022, West End and Central Business District
“A Walk Through History” will offer guided and self-guided tours of Jewish Cincinnati through the 19th and 20th centuries in the West End and Cincinnati Central Business District. Augmented reality and photographs by Cincinnati photographer J. Miles Wolf bring to life architectural remnants no longer standing. This program is supported by the Duke Energy Foundation.
CSO Celebration of Jewish Music
Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, CSO Concert at Music Hall
Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021, Chamber Performance at Plum Street Temple, 720 Plum St.
The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Creative Partner, Matthias Pintscher has curated two programs, Oct 1 & 3 which highlight music of Jewish composers and musicians, including his own work. The CSO’s Oct. 1 program in Cincinnati Music Hall includes Olga Neuwirth’s Aello featuring CSO flutist Henrik Heide and Pintscher’s Nur explores the transformative power of fire with piano soloist Inon Barnatan. On Oct. 3, CSO musicians continue the weekend’s exploration of Jewish music with a chamber music program at Cincinnati’s inspiring and historic Plum Street Temple, featuring works by Pintscher and Olga Neuwirth’s Laki. From Oct. 1 through Oct. 3, Jay Schwartz’ Music for Autosonic Gongs, an installation for 8 electro-acoustically controlled tam-tams will be free and open to the public in the Music Hall Foyer.
Laurel Park Dedication
Oct. 6, 2021, 9 a.m., Laurel Park, 500 Ezzard Charles Drive
Cincinnati Parks and community partners are beautifying Laurel Park in the West End with more than 100 newly planted trees, benches, shelters, walking paths, and a commemorative sculpture of West End resident, business owner and community advocate, Ezzard Charles. Jewish Cincinnati Bicentennial is a proud sponsor of this community project in the West End.
Upstander Tour
Sunday, Oct. 17, 11 a.m., Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Avenue
On this special guided tour of the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, learn about upstanders who decided to speak out against injustice and unfairness and use their character strengths to become the best of humanity.
Tom Schaumberg's Story of Survival
Sunday, Oct. 17, 1 p.m., Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal, 1301 Western Avenue
Tom Schaumberg will share his story of survival. Tom was born in 1938 in Amsterdam, Netherlands and he and his parents were deported to Westerbork transit camp in the Netherlands and then to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Hear about the journey that brought him to the United States.
Tree of Life Cantata Debut
Oct. 24, 2021, Time and location to be announced.
Concert Nova Chamber Ensemble will debut the world premiere of Jacob Lindy’s Tree of Life Cantata, a collection of movements composed in memory of those who lost their lives during the Tree of Life Synagogue massacre in Pittsburgh, PA in 2018.
Presented by Congregation Beth Adam, the Nancy & David Wolf Holocaust & Humanity Center, ish, the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, and Cincinnati Skirball Museum.
A Portrait of Jewish Cincinnati: A Bicentennial Celebration
Nov. 4, 2021–Jan. 30, 2022
Opening reception: Thursday, November 4, 5:30–8 p.m.
Skirball Museum, Mayerson Hall, HUC–JIR, 3101 Clifton Avenue
The Skirball Museum exhibition will feature portraits of Cincinnati's movers and shakers from the early 19th century to the present day, from its own rich collections as well as those of the Cincinnati Art Museum and Mercantile Library, along with private collections, both local and national. Visitors will engage with portraits of the merchants, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, politicians, scholars, and community leaders who helped make Cincinnati the Queen City of the West, with paintings and sculptures by such renowned artists as Sir Jacob Epstein, Raphael Strauss, Henry Mosler, Moses Ezekiel, John Aubery, David Holleman, and Isaac Brynjegard–Bialik.
A full list of events for the rest of the year and more information can be found at www.jewishcincy200.org.
Ace in the Hole
To you, it's a backyard pastime or game to play while tailgating, with beer in hand. But Frank Geers, CEO of the American Cornhole Organization and the Father of American Cornhole, is turning this popular amusement into a competitive and professional sport. Plus meet the newly crowned King of Cornhole, Gary Ferguson.
Get to know Frank Geers, the CEO of the American Cornhole Organization and new ACO World Champion and “King of Corhnhole” Gary Ferguson.
Made in Japan
Aaron Mohr, a former producer at Fox19, is currently covering the Tokyo Olympics as part of an international broadcasting team. He shares his stories with us, from navigating COVID protocols to finding the best bowl of ramen. Mohr delights in the love of sports with his colleagues from around the world and the Olympic spirit of welcome from the people of Tokyo.
As the Olympics wind down in Tokyo, Aaron Mohr gives us a local take on covering – and attending – the international competition.
Jewels in the Crown
Cincinnati Museum Center is partnering with the Taft Museum of Art to care for nearly 50 artworks during the restoration of the Taft’s 200-year-old historic house. We talk to Elizabeth Pierce, president & CEO of CMC, and Deborah Emont Scott, president & CEO of the Taft, talk about how the exhibition Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art and what rare gems you'll discover!
Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) is partnering with the Taft Museum of Art to care for nearly 50 artworks during the restoration of the Taft’s 200-year-old historic house. These works will be showcased at CMC in the featured exhibition Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art. Borrowed Gems opens Friday.
Borrowed Gems showcases the collection of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft, displaying work from masters including Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Charles François Daubigny, J. M. W. Turner and Thomas Gainsborough, in addition to decorative arts featuring Qing dynasty Chinese ceramics and 18th-century watches. The exhibition continues the reinterpretation of the Taft’s permanent collection, covering a broad range of eras, cultures and art forms and the Taft’s More to the Story interpretive texts, providing audiences a more diverse understanding of history. Select works are also highlighted with Closer Look labels to engage families and children with self-guided learning prompts.
Organized by subject matter, Borrowed Gems shows the full range of paintings collected by the Tafts. The couple enjoyed collecting portraits, scenes from daily life and landscapes that could also serve as educational models for artists working in Cincinnati who would look at, and even copy, works by masters of the past. Highlighted portraits in the exhibition include British works such as Thomas Gainsborough’s portrait of Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Joshua Reynolds’ Mrs. Stephen Payne-Gallwey and Her Son Charles. These works continue to offer insights today, providing context into the stories behind the faces seen in the paintings. The portraits are accompanied by 18th-century European watches made of gold and precious gems, bought by the Tafts to inspire Cincinnati’s watchmaking industry. Rather than precision timepieces, these watches are miniature works of art that demonstrated their owners’ fascination with technology. Each watch in Borrowed Gems required the hand of many skilled artisans, from goldsmiths to enamelers to the makers of the movement.
Borrowed Gems also features paintings and porcelains made by Chinese, Dutch, English and French artists of the 18th and 19th centuries portraying people, illustrating narratives and depicting scenes from daily life. The varied cultures and time periods represented in the collection point to the universal impulse to examine relationships and tell stories. Exhibition features include Jean-Francois Millet’s Mother and Child, Anton Mauve’s Cattle Grazing and Adriaen van Ostade’s Interior of an Inn with Three Men and a Boy, which share scenes of people at work, tender family moments and playful vignettes of childhood. Works from the Taft’s collection featured in Borrowed Gems also showcase Chinese vases that illustrate action-filled narratives from Chinese history and literature such as the Vase with the Battle of Kunyang.
Landscapes in the exhibition feature vistas of the French, Dutch and English countryside by painters including J. M. W. Turner’s The Trout Stream and multiple works by Camille Corot. These paintings likely provided respite to the Tafts as they lived in the heart of downtown surrounded by newly built factories. A selection of landscape-inspired Chinese porcelains with designs derived by nature such as the Vase with Lotus Flowers is also on display in the exhibition. During their lifetimes, the Tafts invited artists to see the works from their collections in their home, hoping to encourage creativity in the arts and even inspiring Rookwood Pottery artists with their more than 200 pieces of Chinese ceramics.
Borrowed Gems from the Taft Museum of Art is open through February 21, 2022 in the John A. Ruthven Gallery and the William L. Mallory Sr. Gallery at Cincinnati Museum Center. Admission is free.
International Friendly
While Minnesota native and University of Cincinnati alum Jordan Thompson is in Tokyo representing the U.S. in women's volleyball, two more Bearcats, Vanessa Gilles and Annette Echikunwoke, are representing their home countries at the Olympics.
Vanessa Gilles was the 2017 AAC Defensive Player of the Year for the Bearcats in soccer and a four-time postseason honoree, helping U.C. to the 2015 AAC conference title. She's now on the Canadian National Team in Tokyo.
Meanwhile, Annette Echikunwoke is preparing to compete in the hammer throw event for the Nigerian Olympic Track and Field Team. She is the first ever National Champion for the Bearcats in track and field, winning the weight throw event in 2017.
Both athletes spent some time with the media this past week talking about their U.C. experience and their thoughts on making the Olympics.
Gold Standard
Already a gold medal winner at the FIVB Volleyball Nations League championship, University of Cincinnati and a record-breaking NCAA player Jordan Thompson strikes for gold at the Tokyo Olympics with U.S. Women's Volleyball Team.
A native of Edina, Minnesota, Jordan Thompson is one of the younger members of Team USA at 24, but she’s already helped the U.S. win gold medals at the 2019 FIVB Volleyball Nations League and the Tokyo Qualification Tournament.
A 6-foot-4 opposite, Thompson played college volleyball at Cincinnati, where she set the school record for kills in a season with 827 in 2018. Her average of 6.27 kills per set established a new NCAA record. The 2019 AVCA Player of the Year, Thompson began playing professionally in Turkey in 2020.
By the way, her dad was a Harlem Globetrotter.
–Team USA
Monumental Achievement
You may have seen the film but you may not know that Cincinnatian Walter Farmer was one of the “Monuments Man." Peter Jonathan Bell, curator of European paintings, sculpture and drawings at the Cincinnati Art Museum, discusses the newly opened exhibition Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America, which explores the work Farmer and others did to save these masterpieces during WWII.
The 2014 George Clooney explored a group of American and British men and women – museum curators, art historians, librarians, architects, even artists – responsible for preserving the artistic and cultural achievements of western civilization from the destruction of war and theft by the Nazis.
A number of those works are now on view at the Cincinnati Art Museum in the exhibition Politics and the Monuments Men: The Berlin Masterpieces in America. Peter Jonathan Bell, the Musuem’s curator of European paintings, sculpture and drawings, offers us an inside look at the exhibition and the stories behind preserving these masterpieces.