TMA

Because Mark had been so successful in his house hunting endeavor the day before, what we anticipated to be a weekend of work gave way to a day of play. Boasting a diverse collection of art with an emphasis on 19th and 20th century European and American paintings, as well as free admission (we like free!), the Toledo Museum of Art was our destination of choice.

The TMA was established in 1901 by Edward Drummond Libbey, the founder of Libbey Glass, and his wife Florence. The first museum was located in downtown Toledo, but moved to the city’s Old West End neighborhood in 1909. The Classical Revival building in which it is still housed was designed by Toledo architects Edward Green and Harry W. Wachter, and constructed on land donated by Mrs. Libbey.

We knew the few hours we had to spend in the museum would not give us enough time to do it justice, so we decided to start with the temporary exhibitions. Our first stop was Whistler: Influences, Friends and the Not-So-Friendly.

Featuring works on paper from the museum’s own collection, the display highlighted the talents of American artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). Although he is more popularly known today as a painter, Whistler instead etched when his finances were in trouble since he was more successful in selling what he produced from engraved metal plates. His name as a printmaker is often linked with Rembrandt’s as the artist who, 200 years later, further explored and refined the beauty of the etched line. I also learned that Whistler was quite the rebel and a character as colorful as his works. My kind of guy!  Hmmmm … I wonder if he ever used the line, “Want to come up and see my etchings?” But enough pondering; there was another exhibit I was just dying to check out.

Bare Witness: Photographs by Gordon Parks featured some of the powerful images captured from the 1940s to the 1970s by the late African-American photographer (1912-2006). Parks, best known for his photo essays in Life magazine and as the director of the 1971 film Shaft, began his groundbreaking career by photographically documenting crime, poverty, civil rights, and the contrasting world of celebrity and glamour. The 73 works contained in the exhibit were specifically selected by him, and included examples of his early works from the Farm Security Administration, to the Black Panther’s headquarters, to segregation in Birmingham, Alabama, to intimate photos of the de Silva family living in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. Taking pictures of people is not my strong suit, and I was in total awe of Parks’ ability to create hauntingly beautiful photographs while revealing unjust circumstances.

It was then across the street to the Glass Pavilion, home of the TMA’s signature glass collection. Opened in August 2006, the 76,000-square foot building was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa; all of the structure’s exterior walls—and many of the interior walls—are made of glass. We arrived just in time to give our barking dogs a break by pulling up a chair and viewing the 60-minute glass blowing presentation offered in the demonstration gallery.

The TMA had so much to see and do that we only were able to give its permanent collection a cursory glance. We could just as easily spend another day or two with an entirely different focus and have an equally good time. We’ll definitely file this plan away for future reference!