Monet in Giverny: Landscapes of Reflection at the Cincinnati Art Museum is a stunning collection of 12 works — many painted after 1910 — that offers something for art lovers of all stripes. Your granny will be happy to gaze at utterly inoffensive subject matter, while aficionados can sink their teeth into the artist’s assertive paint handling.  

These two museums don’t just have wonderful art — they also both have fantastic cafés. I recently undertook a mission to dine at both: CAM’s Terrace Café and the Lindner Family Café at the Taft Museum. I decided that I wouldn’t just eat at the cafés — I would also see what treasures the museums had to offer.   

There were some inaccuracies in the Sept. 30 article (“Beyond Belief”) on the visit by atheists to our Creation Museum: Our date for the Earth’s age was given at 4,300 years old; my name was wrongly printed as “Ken”; and a “stir” was created at the museum, it was stated, by an atheist’s T-shirt when the real problem was the way he was verbally disrupting our other visitors’ experience.  

Last week, Cincinnati Art Museum filled us in on the upcoming season and other subjects. We’ve already published the museum’s Fall schedule, so I’m going to bring up some of the other information they shared with us. While the recession has definitely had an impact, the museum continues to move forward.  

‘Garry Winogrand would move fast through the streets, see things happening, maybe across an intersection, would move to that area, firing off his Leica, the wide-angle lens essentially pre-focused, moving with the camera, the energy, the kineticism of the street coming through.”  

For art-museum lovers, one of the best things about hot summers in Cincinnati is the proximity to nearby cities whose museums and public galleries have exhibitions. This makes shows in Dayton, Columbus, Louisville, Lexington and Indianapolis easily reachable. But before we set off on a two-hour drive to see another city’s work, let’s look at the shows local institutions have planned for the summer. Then we’ll hit the road.   

What happens when talented teenagers are teamed with design professionals and asked to interpret “green” concepts in billboard-like format? Plenty happens, as can be seen in The Outdoor Museum, or TOM, in Eden Park now through May 31.  

As Eric M. Lee, whose last day as director of Taft Museum of Art is Friday, prepares to lead the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Tex., he leaves behind a smash-hit show: Fashion in Film: Period Costumes for the Screen. “We are trying to reach out to a broader audience with this show and it’s succeeding,” he says. “Our attendance is phenomenal.  

Citing diminishing returns, the Cincinnati Art Museum has ended its relationship with Cincinnati World Cinema, a presenter of art films, classics, shorts collections and documentaries that had been using its auditorium since 2007. That has left the future unclear for those who feel Cincinnati needs a non-commercial outlet for such specialized films that otherwise wouldn't play here.  

I wanted to dislike The Ascent at Roebling’s Bridge. Well, “wanted” is the wrong word. I expected to dislike the Ascent. Perhaps this could be due to my preference for old historic buildings, or maybe I presumed that such high aspirations would have to result in a stunning but alienating encounter.