2017-01-05

12460 - 20170611 -"The Poetry of Place: Photography by William Clift, Linda Connor and Michael Kenna" on view in Cincinnati - 10.12.2016-11.06.2017

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Michael Kenna, Three Trees at Dusk, Fain Les Moutiers, Bourgogne, France, 2013, gelatin silver print, 7 11/16 x 7 11/16 in. (19.5 x 19.5 cm), Cincinnati Art Museum; Gift of the Artist, 2014.17. © and courtesy Michael Kenna
 
The Cincinnati Art Museum invites visitors to experience the new photography special feature, The Poetry of Place: William Clift, Linda Connor and Michael Kenna, on view Dec. 10, 2016 through June 11, 2017.
Featuring landscape and interior scenes, The Poetry of Place showcases 18 black-and-white photographs. The artworks, all from the museum’s permanent collection, hint at the themes of memory and time, uniting images of an ethereal, serene world.

Spearheading The Poetry of Place is Cincinnati Art Museum Curatorial Assistant of Photography Emily Bauman. “This special feature aims to unite both artist and viewer through a common, familiar theme: place,” says Bauman. "Although artists Clift, Connor and Kenna are not connected to one another, the scenes featured in The Poetry of Place evoke a haunting, human presence we can all sense, even in the absence of human subjects.”

Current discussion of Clift’s work centers on his soulful photographs of the monumental landscapes of Shiprock, New Mexico and Mont St. Michel in Normandy, France. The Poetry of Place also includes photographs Clift took for a U.S. bicentennial celebration project depicting county courthouses across the country.

Since 1967 Connor has explored the poetry and mystery of sacred sites. On the occasion of the 2006 exhibition Andrew Wyeth Watercolors and Drawings: Selections from the Marunuma Art Park, Japan, the Cincinnati Art Museum invited Connor to capture the essence of the Olson House, a 200-year-old Maine farm house made famous by Wyeth’s paintings.

Kenna invites the viewer to look at the world with different eyes. His images include minimalist views of the natural landscape as well as human-made structures, always with a quality that is both meditative and mysterious. The special feature title draws inspiration from Kenna’s comparison of his visual language to haiku poetry.

Women Writing for (a) Change will host a two-part six-hour writing workshop at the Cincinnati Art Museum on April 29 and April 30, 2017, from 1 to 4 p.m. The workshop invites participants to take inspiration from photographs in the special feature.

The Poetry of Place is free and on view in Gallery 104.