Kentucky Renaissance
The Kentucky Renaissance: Celebrating Lexington's Artistic Legacy in Photography and Literature
So, this is cool: The Cincinnati Art Museum is organizing a major exhibition of photographs, prints, books, and other artworks made in Lexington, Kentucky, during the third quarter of the 20th century.
The Lexington Camera Club, an organization devoted to the art and craft of photography, anchors the exhibition. This exhibition is the Art Museum's signal presentation for the FotoFocus 2016 Biennial, a region-wide celebration of photography.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard is the most esteemed artist affiliated with this group. This exhibition sets his art within an unprecedented examination of his mentors, peers and friends in the Lexington Camera Club during the third quarter of the 20th century. In doing so, the exhibition notes the influence this club had not only on Meatyard, but on developing a modernist sensibility blended with Southern culture.
James Baker Hall, "Untitled"
In addition to Meatyard, the photography of Van Deren Coke, Robert C. May, James Baker Hall and Cranston Ritchie, among others, will be presented. Kentucky Renaissance reaches beyond the realm of photography to reveal connections to literature. Writers Guy Davenport, Wendell Berry and Thomas Merton are included or depicted in the show, and the influence of regional publishing enterprises like the Jargon Society and Gnomon Press is also acknowledged.