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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THE KING RANCH LEGACY IN TEXAS©

Captain Richard King’s domesticated longhorns, located on his vast South Texas Ranch of around 146,000 acres back in 1867, were some of the very first hoof stock to comprise the early northward Texas cattle drives.  

Getting these cattle to market was a real challenge, though, as some one thousand miles of dangerous wilderness stretched out between Captain King’s cattle and the midwestern railheads where they could be sold.

From 1867 to1884, the Chisholm Trail was the major livestock route out of Texas, during the "Beef Bonanza", traveling north to Kansas from the expansive King Ranch in South Texas.

From Texas State Historical Association: “Cattle drovers followed the old Shawnee Trail by way of San Antonio, Austin, and Waco, where the trails split. The Chisholm Trail continued on to Fort Worth, then passed east of Decatur to the crossing at Red River Station. It followed the same route as modern U.S. Highway 81 from Fort Worth to Newton, Kansas.”

King's Running W brand was first registered in 1869.  Some have said that it represents one of the ranch’s many diamondback rattlesnakes or the Santa Gertrudis Creek, while others are sure it signifies the sweeping horns of a Texas Longhorn bull. 

The Waco Suspension Bridge built during this time period, was constructed across the Brazos River for the primary purpose of moving cattle along the Chisholm Trail.

Captain King died in 1885, right after this period ended, but not before he had turned his efforts towards raising cattle in South Texas.

During the early 1900s, King Ranch made its name in animal husbandry. By crossbreeding Brahman bulls, native to India, with British Shorthorn stock, the ranch produced the Santa Gertrudis, recognized as the first American breed of beef cattle and the first cattle breed to be recognized in the world in more than a century. This breed of cattle continues to be recognized throughout the world for its fine beef quality and ability to withstand arid climates. Today, the Santa Gertrudis is the most prevalent cattle breed in Australia.

The "King Suite" at the historic Menger Hotel in San Antonio, is named after Captain King who stayed there frequently. As legends go, it is thought that he is still occupying that room, long after his death -- not surprising, since the Menger Hotel has a number of famous and infamous "residents" who have been "seen" wandering the hallways both day and night, and even sitting in one of the Menger's two Lobbies.

Conversely, although the dish known as the "King Ranch Casserole" may have been named for the King Ranch, the origin of the casserole is unclear, AND the King Ranch does not claim it.  (Besides, the casserole is made with chicken, not beef, and the King Ranch is known for beef, not chickens.)

Today, the King Ranch remains a thriving multi-faceted agribusiness enterprise, which offers daily tours and an onsite Museum.   It is still family-run by 6th generation decendants of Captain King, and all of the quarter-horses on the Ranch are descendants of King's own sorrel. For more info, link to: https://king-ranch.com/

Primary Research Source:  The King Ranch

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THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN WASHINGTON, D.C. - A NATIONAL TREASURE©

While serving in office from 1933-1945, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, often referred to as "FDR", inventoried the vast quantities of papers and other materials he and his staff had accumulated. Up to that time, many Presidential papers and records had either been lost, destroyed, sold for profit, or ruined by poor storage conditions.

President Roosevelt sought a viable solution.  Advised by a number of noted historians and scholars, he established a public repository to preserve the evidence of the Presidency for future generations.

In Roosevelt’s own words: “To bring together the records of the past and to house them in a building where they will be preserved for the use of men and women of the future, a Nation must believe in three things.  It must believe in the past.  It must believe in the future.  It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people to learn from the past so that they can gain judgment in creating their own future”.

Prior to the establishing of the National Archives, records created by the Federal Government lacked a stable and secure environment and were not easily accessible to the public. In 1926, during the Presidency of Calvin Coolidge, the US Congress passed the Public Building Act, providing for the construction of several government buildings including "a National Archives".

Architect John Russell Pope was selected to design the building, and ground was broken on September 5, 1931, during the Presidency of Herbert Hoover. On February 20, 1933, President Herbert Hoover laid the building’s cornerstone.

In 1934, after Franklin D. Roosevelt had been elected President, the US Congress voted to establish the National Archives to preserve and care for the records of the U.S. Government.   Prior to that time, Federal records were kept in various basements, attics, abandoned buildings, and other storage places with little security or concern for storage conditions.  On June 19, 1934, with the building’s construction well under way, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation creating the National Archives and authorizing it to collect, care for, and make available Federal Government records. 

President Roosevelt appointed Robert D.W. Connor as the first Archivist of the United States, and 80 staff members moved into the nearly-completed building in the Fall  of 1935, ready for the daunting task of surveying and restoring historical Federal records. 

The agency’s first order of business was locating records.  Archives staff surveyed records located in the Washington, D.C. area, while the Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers surveyed Federal records nationwide.   The following year, in 1936, the first batch of Federal records were transferred to the new National Archives Building in Washington, D.C.

Staff found records in basements, attics, carriage houses, abandoned buildings, and alcoves.  Many  records had suffered from neglect, infestations, water damage, and even theft.  Records transferred to the National Archives initially went to the Document Conservation Lab to be fumigated.  Thereafter, they were cleaned with specially designed air guns.

The sheer volume of Federal records being located was massive.  Almost as soon as the National Archives building had opened, it required renovation to make room for the influx of records. The inner courtyard was altered and filled with stacks -- doubling the records storage space.

The architect Pope had specifically designed the National Archives’ 75-foot-high “Exhibition Hall” to display the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. The Hall included large murals by artist Barry Faulkner depicting the creations of these documents, and a “shrine” designed to hold the original documents. Despite this, however, the Charter documents remained located at the Library of Congress for almost 20 more years.

Finally, in April of 1952, the US Congress ordered that the originals of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution be moved to the National Archives.

These "Charter Documents" were transferred in a solemn public ceremony, pictured here, on December 13, 1952, and unveiled to the public on Bill of Rights Day, December 15, 1952.

Falling under the umbrella of the National Archives are most of the Presidential Libraries, with the exception of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois, which is run by the State of Illinois.  

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed the very first Presidential Library, to be built with private funds, containing all the records of his administration, and to be run by the National Archives.  Congress approved FDR’s plan, and his Library opened during his Presidency in 1941 in Hyde Park, NY.

All of FDR’s Presidential successors, as well as his immediate predecessor, Herbert Hoover, have perpetuated this tradition.   Because the original legislation approved by Congress had pertained only to FDR, Congress passed the Presidential Libraries Act in 1955, paving the way for Presidential libraries, papers, and memorabilia to be allowed to be transferred to the National Archives.

President Harry S. Truman
at Truman Presidential Library
Independence, Missouri

Dwight D. Eisenhower
Presidential Library
Abilene, Kansas

Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library
Austin, Texas

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Simi Valley, California

Herbert Hoover Presidential Library
West Branch, Iowa

After Watergate and President Richard Nixon’s resignation in 1974,  the US Congress passed legislation seizing Nixon’s materials and mandating that the National Archives process them for public access.

Congress later passed the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which designated Presidential papers as "government property that must be transferred to the National Archives at the end of an administration".  Ronald Reagan was the first President required to comply with the Act.

Most recently, President Barack Obama created a new model for his library whereby NARA will not administer a Museum nor a traditional Presidential Library, but will instead focus on preserving and making accessible Obama’s Presidential records digitally.

Over the years, the National Archives gained new responsibilities relevant to current as well as historical Federal records, leading to its name eventually being changed to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

From one building on Pennsylvania Avenue back in 1935, the National Archives now oversees more than 40 facilities nationwide. 

Today, the mission of the National Archives is to provide public access to Federal Government records in its custody and control.  In the furtherance of this mission, the Archives state: “Public access to government records strengthens democracy by allowing Americans to claim their rights of citizenship, hold their government accountable, and understand their history so they can participate more effectively in their government”.

NOTE:  Presidential Libraries are the focus of two of our "Around the USA" custom-created escorted group heritage tours.  For more information about, and to book, either or both of these interesting, educational and fun tours, link to our Website at:  Presidential Libraries in the Lone Star State of Texas©  and to  Presidential Libraries and Fall Foliage of the Midwest©.

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(Primary Research Source:  The National Archives and Records Administration)

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THE KANSAS CITY (MISSOURI) ZOO TAKES THREE PENGUINS FOR A PRIVATE TOUR OF A LOCAL ART MUSEUM©

A DELIGHTFUL CULTURAL ARTS MOMENT DURING COVID-19 LOCKDOWN.

Several weeks ago, the Kansas City Zoo did something so wonderfully engaging that not only did it "perk up my day" when I first heard about this story, but it has continued to make me smile whenever I have thought about it over the following weeks while continuing to shelter-in-place.

Back in May, the Kansas City Zoo's Director took a walk on the wild side to the nearby Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art with a trio of Humboldt penguins from Peru in tow. These adorable flightless birds—Bubbles (5), Maggie (7), and Berkley (8)—took in the Museum's Impressionist and Baroque collections.

According to the Museum’s Director, Julian Zugazagoitia, the birds “seemed, definitely to react much better to Caravaggio than to Monet” despite his anticipation that they would prefer Monet’s cool-toned water lilies. The three penguins, being from Peru, also seemed to “really appreciate it” when Zugazagoitia spoke to them in Spanish.

ABOUT THE NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM:

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art arose from the instincts and ambitions of two private individuals who shared the dream of providing a public art museum for Kansas City and the surrounding region.

William Rockhill Nelson, founder of The Kansas City Star, was convinced that for a city to be truly civilized, art and culture were necessities. When he died in 1915, the bulk of his estate was used to establish the William Rockhill Nelson Trust for the purchase of works of art.

Kansas City school teacher Mary McAfee Atkins had similar aspirations. She provided the city with approximately one-third of her million-dollar estate to purchase the land for a public art museum.

The Nelson estate was combined with Mary Atkins’ legacy to build an art museum for the people of Kansas City.   The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and the Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts opened to the public Dec. 11, 1933. The Main Building was designed by Wight and Wight in the Beaux-Art classical style of architecture.

On June 9, 2007, the Nelson-Atkins unveiled the Bloch Building, an addition designed by Steven Holl Architects, which increased gallery and storage space for the growing collection, which includes art created in various types of media from all over the world -- spanning from antiquity to modern -- representing a wide range of cultures.

(Source: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art)

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THE "GHOST LIGHTS" OF BROADWAY AND OTHER THEATRICAL SUPERSTITIONS©

Broadway theatres and Broadway performing companies are having a tough time right now during the COVID-19 pandemic, as are the performing arts in general.  Shows scheduled for the 2020-2021 Season have been indefinitely put on hold, and Broadway theatres recently announced that they would remain closed, or "go dark", for the rest of 2020.

But Broadway theatres never truly completely "go dark", because for over 100 years, since the late 1800s, one light has remained on inside each of the theatres -- the "Ghost Light".

Simply put, the Ghost Light is a single, unadorned light bulb on a stand placed "downstage center" on an open stage and is turned on while the theatre is empty;  however, it symbolizes so much more than being on for safety reasons to keep the actors and backstage crew from tripping in the dark and falling into the orchestra pit.

Ghost Lights have even had their own "Broadway moments", sharing the stage solo with Tony-award winner Andre de Shields in his Broadway debut in "The Wiz" back in 1974, and again sharing the stage solo with 3-time Tony-award winner Bernadette Peters in 2003 in the Broadway revival of the musical "Gypsy".

According to theatre scholar James Fisher, the exact origins of the Ghost Light is murky, although there are some popular theories. He writes in Historical Dictionary of American Theater: Beginnings that the "ghost light comes from the days of gas-lit theatres and refers to dimly lit gaslights used to relieve pressure on gas valves”.

In another of Fisher's books, The A to Z of American Theater: Modernism,  he relates a popular legend that a burglar once snuck into a Broadway theater, fell from the darkened stage, broke his leg, and then sued the theater.

However, the most pervasive belief is that the Ghost Light will either ward off ghosts or distract them -- and even some guided ghost tours of several of Broadway's historic theatres focus on that belief.

A special feature article by Lindsey Wilson in a 2008 issue of Playbill pointed out that theatrical folk historically are a superstitious lot.  Wishing actors a broken leg (don't ever tell them "good luck"), avoiding whistling backstage (it used to confuse the stagehands), and being careful not to say the word  "Mac . . . . ."  (instead, referring to it as "The Scottish Play" because they believe that it is "cursed"), are just a sampling of the multitude of long-standing theatre traditions.

Other "theatrical stage superstitions" hold that Ghost Lights provide opportunities for ghosts who are "former actors" to perform onstage, thus appeasing them and preventing them from cursing the theater or sabotaging the set or the production.  The Ghost Light is supposed to give them enough light to perform on stage -- AND it is also considered bad luck not to allow these "late thespians" to do this at least once a week -- giving rise to the "legendary" reason why theatres usually only schedule productions for the public 6 days per week.

As for the theatre ghosts themselves, there is no shortage of "ghost sightings" among the legends which accompany many of Broadway's historic theatres and give support to this superstition.  Olive Thomas, for example, a former Ziegfeld showgirl who died in 1920, is a "resident"  at The New Amsterdam Theatre where she regularly performed during her lifetime.  She is often sighted by theatre-goers, blowing kisses to them as they leave the theatre after a present-day performance.

Even if after-hours lighting weren't required for safety purposes, superstitious theatre folk would probably still insist on keeping the Ghost Light burning.   The business of mounting a theatrical stage production for Broadway is risky enough without an irritable spirit or two lurking in the wings -- not unlike one of the most famous -- or infamous -- real or fictional -- of these "spirits" whose initials are "O.G."  (Opera Ghost) -- better known as "The Phantom of the Opera".

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RECENT DISCOVERIES OF ANCIENT MAYAN STRUCTURES IN MEXICO©

Archaeologists and historians have long been interested in the Mayan Civilization in present day Mexico.  Mayan settlements date back approximately 4,000 years to 2000 BCE, when small farming communities began to appear.  During the 500-year time span from 1500 BCE to 1000 BCE, Mayan culture developed, along with larger settlements.

Recently, scientists using an aerial remote-sensing method, discovered a gigantic rectangular elevated platform built between 1000 BCE and 800 BCE in the Tabasco State of Mexico.

Unlike the famous Mayan pyramids constructed much later between 500 CE and 700 CE in Mexican and Guatemalan cities, this very early structure was built with clay and earth rather than stone used in the later structures.  Researchers speculate that this newly-discovered structure was likely used for mass rituals and special occasions, such as celebrations of calendar cycles, because jade axes were found near the center of the structure's highest plateau.

Located at a site called Aguada Fenix, near the Guatemalan border, the structure is approximately 1/4-mile wide, almost 1-mile long, and stood between 30 and 50 feet high. 

What is remarkable is that in total volume, this structure exceeded Ancient Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza which was completed around 2560 BCE -- over 1,500 years earlier.

This most recent Mayan discovery comes just a few years after scientists in 2013 found an entire ancient Mayan city consisting of 15 pyramids --  one of which was 75-feet tall -- ball courts, plazas and several sculpted stone shafts called stelae.  The presence of multiple ball game courts indicates that the site was a very important city.
  


The city had remained hidden for centuries in the rain forests of eastern Mexico.  The scientific team named the city Chactun, meaning "Red Rock" or "Large Rock".  They estimated that the city could have been home to as many as 40,000 people, and likely flourished during the Late Classical Period of Mayan Civilization between 600 CE and 900 CE.

The site, which encompasses around 54-acres, is one of the largest found in the Yucatan's central lowlands,  now entirely covered by the jungle.  It was likely abandoned around 1000 CE due to multiple factors, including climate change and wars between the competing regions of the Mayan Empire during that time frame.

The Mayan Civilization was one of the most advanced in the pre-Columbian Americas.  At its peak, its rule extended over much of modern-day Mexico, and included large portions of the Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. 

(Sources: Will Dunham, Reuters, June 3, 2020;  Luc Cohen, Reuters, June 20, 2013.)

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