Bruce Museum: Masterworks of Photography

While it's true that we're only "45 minutes from Broadway" -- upper Broadway anyway -- getting into Manhattan to visit a museum is still, well a drag. And then there's the hassle and expense of parking.

15 Minutes to The Bruce.  So it's more than a little refreshing to know there's a first-rate museum only 15 minutes away. I'm talking about The Bruce Museum at 1 Museum Drive in Greenwich, CT, just off I95.

Masterful Hochberg-Mattis Exhibit.  Currently at the Bruce are several interesting exhibits, including the really excellent Picture Perfect: Masterworks of Photography from the Hochberg-Mattis Collection which runs from June 11, 2005 through September 11, 2005. We've been twice and loved it both times. Michael Mattis and his wife Judith Hochberg are the consummate collectors with an eye for great photography, and a curatorial sense for what's important.

Comprehensive Representation.  In the exhibit are rare tintypes, 19th century photos by such greats as Julia Margaret Cameron, Félix Nadar, Carleton Watkins, and Thomas Eakins. And representative photos from virtually every top-drawer 20th century photographer, including Stieglitz, Weston, Adams, Kertesz, Man Ray, Dorothea Lange whose Migratory Cotton Picker, Eloy, Arizona, 1940 is at right, Eisenstadt, Robert Frank, Arbus, Penn, and Mapplethorpe. Remarkable indeed!

Well Done & Inexpensive.  The curating is informative, not cutesy, giving history and pointing out relationships among artists, and their antecedents. You'll need to budget at least an hour, and $7.00 for adult admission. Plenty of free parking. Closed Mondays. Free individual admission on Tuesdays. And a nice bonus: join The Bruce's email list (at the counter) and get a pass good for a future free admission.