Lexington’s photographic history will take the spotlight this fall at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The museum’s upcoming exhibition, Kentucky Renaissance: The Lexington Camera Club and Its Community, 1954-1974, will explore the artistic achievements and sense of community that helped validate the mid-20th century Lexington-based photography group. The exhibition will feature works from Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Van Deren Coke, Thomas Merton, James Baker Hall, Guy Mendes and other well-known names in photography.
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Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Jonathan Williams, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, ca. 1967–72. Color transparency, Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library
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Hands on Rock
Cranston Ritchie, Untitled [Hands on Rock], ca. 1956–61. Gelatin silver print, 7 x 9 in. (17.8 x 22.9 cm), University of Louisville Libraries Special Collections
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Untitled
Thomas Merton, Untitled, ca. mid-1960s, Archival inkjet print from original negative, 6 1/8 x 9 in. (15.6 x 22.9 cm), The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, Louisville
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Juliette Lee Moore, Kit’s Hole
Guy Mendes, Juliette Lee Moore, Kit’s Hole, Clark County, KY, 1968, Gelatin silver print, 11 7/8 x 7 3/4 in. (30.2 x 19.7 cm), Cincinnati Art Museum: FotoFocus Art Purchase Fund, 2016.8
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Untitled
Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Untitled, 1964, Gelatin silver print, 7 1/4 x 7 3/8 in. (18.4 x 18.7 cm), © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
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![Untitled [Fence, lanterns, and figures]](https://smileypete.com/downloads/3503/download/unspecified-6.jpg?cb=4544cdba78db00ba9e11b86919f35ad1&w={width}&h={height} "Untitled [Fence, lanterns, and figures]")
Untitled [Fence, lanterns, and figures]
Robert C. May, Untitled [Fence, lanterns, and figures], 1968, Gelatin silver print, 6 1/16 x 6 in. (15.4 x 15.3 cm), The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Lexington
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Untitled
James Baker Hall, Untitled, ca. 1973, Gelatin silver print, 6 11/16 x 6 11/16 in. (17 x 17 cm), Cincinnati Art Museum: FotoFocus Art Purchase Fund, 2016.29
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Abstract, ca. 1966
Zygmunt S. Gierlach, Abstract, ca. 1966, Gelatin silver print, 6 3/4 x 7 in. (17.1 x 17.7 cm), University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center, Lexington
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Thou Shalt Not Steal
Van Deren Coke, Thou Shalt Not Steal, 1963, Gelatin silver print, 6 1/16 x 8 1/4 in. (15.4 x 21 cm), The Art Museum at the University of Kentucky, Lexington
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![Untitled [Bottle]](https://smileypete.com/downloads/3508/download/unspecified%20%281%29.jpg?cb=3439f06f093a3346ca0ed72e73ea3eb5&w={width}&h={height} "Untitled [Bottle]")
Untitled [Bottle]
Cranston Ritchie, Untitled [Bottle], ca. 1956–61, Gelatin silver print, 8 x 7 5/8 in, (20.3 x 19.4 cm), University of Louisville Libraries Special Collections
Formed in 1936, the Lexington Camera Club consisted of members from many different professions and walks of life all focused on one goal: to further explore their interest in art and expression through photography. The club experimented with its photography in ways that had never been seen before, presenting bold depictions of life in the rural south and groundbreaking technicality in capturing Kentucky’s landscapes.
The exhibition is the product of years of research by Brian Sholis, the Cincinnati Art Museum’s curator of photography.
“The club was a community of artists, and its members pushed themselves to new creative heights despite being in a place conventionally understood as outside the center of artistic innovation,” said Sholis.
The exhibition will be open from October 8 to January 1 and will feature more than 150 photographs, books, prints and other works made in Lexington and surrounding areas.
Tickets for the Kentucky Renaissance special exhibition cost $10 for adults, or $5 for children ages 6-17 and college students with ID. Museum members and children age 5 and under will be admitted to the exhibition for free. Tickets will also include entry to Van Gogh: Into the Undergrowth; an exhibition that will focus on the relationship between the forest interior to the art of Vincent Van Gogh.
General admission to the Cincinnati Art Museum is free, thanks to the donations of several museum benefactors.
The Kentucky Renaissance exhibition will also be free on Thursday evenings from 5 to 8 p.m., beginning November 3, and during the museum’s Art After Dark events on October 28 and November 25, from 5 to 9 p.m.. For more information, check the upcoming exhibitions listings on the museum’s website at http://www.cincinnatiartmuseum.org.