'Natural Moderns': A Great Exhibition to See If You're in Cincinnati

We went to the Cincinnati Museum of Art today. There is no admission charged to enter the museum any longer, which, as my wife pointed out, makes it ideal for taking the place in through bite-sized chunks It's possible to really look at a few pieces, giving them the attention needed to appreciate them, without feeling pressed to see everything in one visit.

Today was the second day for a new--and small--exhibition called, Natural Moderns: Georgia O'Keefe and Her Contemporaries. Included are two paintings by O'Keefe, both stunning. Even though it's a small exhibition, it's far from disappointing!

The theme is landscapes--and seascapes--as seen through the self-consciously modern eyes of O'Keefe, Arthur G. Dove, Marsden Hartley, and John Marin.

The two O'Keefe works immediately call out for attention. This is especially true of Red Hills, a gorgeous painting at which I couldn't stop staring.

The surprise of the exhibition for me was Dove, of whom I don't remember ever hearing before. His pieces are clearly inspired by nature, but are abstractions, what he called "extractions." And that's a sensible designation for them, since Dove seemed to extract the color and energy out of nature, while rendering his subjects in abstract ways. The effect, for me, is like seeing something of the essence of a roiling sea or an evening sky, conveying something of their nature far more certainly than could a more photographic rendering.

The museum's web article on this exhibition notes:

Dove, Hartley, Marin, and O’Keeffe were members of the famed Stieglitz Circle, named for photographer and art dealer Alfred Stieglitz, who championed avant-garde art in America. (Stieglitz and O’Keeffe married in 1924.) Between the two World Wars, the Stieglitz Circle worked to define a distinctly American form of modernism, finding meaning in the American landscape and the natural world, which they expressed in thoughtful and highly personal works of art.

If you're in Cincinnati and have the chance to visit the museum in its beautiful Eden Park setting, you might want to check out this exhibition, which will be showing through January 14, 2007.