CRYSTAL BRIDGES MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART: TWO EXHIBITS SHOWCASING ITS OWN NATURAL SETTING IN THE OZARKS AND PHOTOGRAPHER ANSEL ADAMS©

 

It's no secret that Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas is a favourite destination of mine, and of travelers on our "Presidential Libraries and Fall Foliage of the Midwest©" Tour.  

This Fall, Crystal Bridges will present two Special Exhibits -- both celebrating the American landscape:  1)  "Ansel Adams in Our Time" and 2) the return of "North Forest Lights".

The Museum and both Exhibits will have enhanced safety measures in place due to COVID-19 concerns.

1)    "Ansel Adams in Our Time"

        I had the opportunity to meet Ansel Adams and his wife years ago in Los Angeles at an event held in one of the art galleries along the famed La Cienega Blvd., at a time when some of those art galleries and the artists exhibiting therein were becoming legendary.  Adams had spent time in Los Angeles decades earlier in late 1940 as a young photographer on assignment with Fortune magazine.  He had a jovial personality, twinkling blue eyes, snow white hair and a full beard, and when I shook his hand, I noticed how smooth and soft his palm was from his many years working with the chemicals he used to develop his black-and-white photographs.   

        The Wall Street Journal describes the Exhibit "Ansel Adams in Our Time" in the following way: "America's most famous nature photographer is given a new context". 

        For over 50 years, Ansel Adams captured the breathtaking beauty of the United States in stunning black-and-white photographs containing images of a time gone by, frozen in time.  

        This Special Exhibit features more than 100 of Adams' most iconic works like never before, displayed alongside 19th Century photographers and contemporary artists who both influenced  -- and who were influenced by -- this legendary American artist. The history and production of pre-digital photography is also explored.

        Visitors will move back and forth in time viewing national parks, the American Southwest, as well as desert and wilderness scenery as captured by Adams' lens, and also by 24 of his contemporary successors, some of whom have expressed environmental concerns which stem from Adams' legacy.  

        "Ansel Adams in Our Time" runs from September 19, 2020 through January 3, 2021, and was originally organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

2)    "North Forest Lights"

        Crystal Bridges Museum is literally situated in an idyllic setting within the spectacular Ozarks and with plenty of surrounding land for outdoor art installations, the relocation of Frank Lloyd Wright's Bachman-Wilson House, and nature trails.

        "North Forest Lights" returns for a second season in Crystal Bridges' North Forest, where visitors will again enjoy an enchanted nighttime stroll through the Ozark woods featuring five separate installations that will bring the forest to life with dynamic, nature-inspired lighting elements, sensory effects, and immersive soundscapes which merge with nature's own "music" into a unique symphony of light and sound engaging for the entire family.

        To create this symphonic "concert", Crystal Bridges partnered with Montreal-based multimedia and entertainment studio, Moment Factory. 

        "North Forst Lights" opens on September 4, 2020 and continues through April 4, 2021.  It can be visited each week in the evening hours after sunset, Fridays through Sundays.  Additional days may be offered later in the season.

SIDE NOTE:  Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is included as a featured stop in the Itinerary of our custom-created escorted group heritage Tour, "Presidential Libraries and Fall Foliage of the Midwest©.  For more information about this fun and interesting Tour, link to our Website at:  http://snobbytours.com/PrezLibMidwestFFChicago.html

(Primary Source:  Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art)

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NOTRE DAME CATHEDRAL'S GRAND ORGAN: SURVIVING THE FIRE AND BEING REFURBISHED TO PERFORM DURING THE 2024 OLYMPICS IN PARIS©

When fire ripped through the over 900-year old Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on April 15, 2019, the world literally looked on in horror.  

Much was lost which can never be replaced, including beautiful artisan-crafted stained glass windows, and it has taken more than one year to get rid of the toxic lead residue left by the fire. Traces of the hazardous lead dust have even shown up in honey produced by Parisian beehives since the fire.


Lead was a highly used building material in Paris during the time of the construction of Notre Dame, built in the 12th Century. The roof and the spire of the cathedral had several hundred tons of lead and while most melted during the fire, some flames reached temperatures high enough to aerosolize lead oxides.

  

Amazingly, the 8,000-pipe Grand Organ, which dates back to 1733, survived the fire which consumed the cathedral’s roof and toppled its spire; however, the blaze coated the instrument in the toxic lead dust that must now be painstakingly removed.

Although the Grand Organ itself didn’t burn, it also suffered additional damage from the record heatwave that followed the fire during last summer, and has been affected by other temperature variations to which it has been exposed since the Cathedral lost its roof.

Pipe by precious pipe, the Grand Organ that once thundered through Notre Dame Cathedral is being taken apart. The mammoth task of dismantling, cleaning and reassembling France’s largest musical instrument began on Monday, August 3, 2020 and is expected to last nearly four years.  

Experts have started removing the organ’s keyboards and will then take out its pipes through the end of this year, according to the reconstruction agency. The pieces will be placed in special containers inside the huge Cathedral, where the cleaning and restoration will take place.

Once restored, it will take six months just to tune the organ, according to the state agency overseeing Notre Dame’s restoration. 

Notre Dame Cathedral itself is currently closed to the public; however, France's President Emmanuel Macron hopes the Cathedral can reopen in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The music of Notre Dame's Grand Organ, however, is scheduled to resound again through the much-loved medieval Paris monument on April 16, 2024, marking five years since the fire. 

The Cathedral's organist Johann Vexo is already dreaming of that day.

“It’s a very powerful organ, but with also a lot of poetry,” said Vexo, who was playing the organ during an evening Mass when the fire alarm sounded on April 15, 2019. “It’s just probably the most beautiful organ in the world.”

(Reference and Photo Sources: The Associated Press; Eric Mack, Contributing Writer (Science), Forbes Media; Cecelia Rodrigues, Senior Contributor (Arts), Forbes Media; Environmental Letters Jourmal)

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