One of the top attractions in the Finger Lakes Region of upstate New York: Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University
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| View from inside the Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art |
Growing up in one of the world’s great cities, New York City, we New Yorkers sometimes feel a sense of entitlement and pride bordering on arrogance, that there is nowhere else outside the confines of the city. Of course, this isn’t true the minute you decide to venture outside this great city.
When I first saw a map of the state, I couldn’t put my mind around the driving distances between the tip of Long Island (the farthest point on the eastern end of the state) to Niagara Falls (the farthest point on the northwestern end of the state). That drive, at little over 500 miles, would represent around a 9 hour drive, if you don’t hit any traffic, which is an impossible task in the state and you don’t stop for fuel, food, or bathroom breaks.
As a young man thinking of going places after just obtaining a driver’s license at the age of 16, I certainly knew I had my work cut out for me, trying to see some of the most popular attractions just within the same state. Such attractions that I had planned on visiting around that age included the aforementioned Niagara Falls, Thousand Islands, Watkins Glen State Park, to name just a few.
I’ve always dreamt of visiting faraway places in upstate New York, as they were just so well, darn far away! One of those darn faraway places was the Finger Lakes Region, a place I’ve heard so much about in popular media growing up.
During my wife and myself’s trip to the Pocono Mountains in the month of October, we finally checked off several boxes for this region, a region full of mystical lakes and awe inspiring attractions. After visiting and finally hiking the natural wonders of the region like Watkins Glen and Taughannock Falls State Parks, we were finally ready for some culture. For that purpose, we chose the excellent Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, located right at the bottom end of the largest Finger Lakes, Cayuga Lake.
On a beautiful fall morning in upstate New York, we left our temporary home in the Pocono Mountains for Ithaca New York, a drive of around 2 hours. On our way, we stopped at the very clean and modern New York Visitor Center right over the border between Pennsylvania and New York. We stopped to pick up some locally sourced produce for my parents and to take some pictures of the famous “I Love NY” sign.
We arrived at the beautiful campus of Cornell University, a renowned Ivy League university. The famous university located in downtown Ithaca is scenic, surrounded by bucolic mountains, lakes, and gorges. We navigated through an unfamiliar landscape of the campus, noticing the steep hills but being immediately rewarded with nice views at the apex of those same steep hills.
We saw plenty of students all around the campus, some hastily making their way perhaps to their next classroom, while some just relaxing outside taking a mental break. It harkened back to the days when we attended college, doing just about the same thing while on campus. How some things never change…
When we arrived at the museum, I quickly learned there was only a very limited number of parking spaces near the museum. We looked around and was lucky to find one about 100 feet down the road. After paying for parking using the ubiquitous self pay parking machine, we headed towards the massive, impressive museum building.
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| Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art |
The proverbial “built like a rock” was really apt for the museum. It looked like it was built with nothing but granite, concrete, and stone! It is such a modern design in a campus where many buildings have the look of High Victorian and Romanesque architecture.
We marveled at the modernity and simplicity of the architecture and walked inside. Wow, the space inside was stunning, with views of the lake for miles, beautiful trees everywhere, and that gorgeous college campus. We love most college campuses, and this was no exception.
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| Lobby of the museum |
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| View from the second floor |
One of the best part about the museum is that there is no admission fee to enter! We took full advantage of it, then started our tour on the second floor.
The second floor exhibit space is dedicated to the architect of the museum, the renowned I.M. Pei, who also designed Louvre Pyramid (Paris), the East Building of the National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (Cleveland) to name a few. We read about his inspiration for the design and saw his initial sketches of the museum as well as the construction process.
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| I.M. Pei, the architect |
We walked through each exhibit area, trying to immerse ourselves with each artwork. We succeeded for the most part, but the views of outside from many vantage points within the museum detracted from our task on hand. The views were simply majestic, like these below!
For those of us who are art lovers, here is one of my favorites from the second floor: a photo of the woods displayed like a mosaic.
We made our way upstairs using a rather narrow fireman’s staircase (a spiral staircase). Along the way, on the landings between the floors, we saw some nice historic artifacts on display, like this one.
On third floors and above, we saw a fine collection of western and eastern art. Eastern art in particular, was impressive. Each room had a dedicated section for each country ranging from China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, etc.
We saw perhaps one of the nicest collections of Korean arts that we’ve ever encountered and we were impressed. Here are some samples below:
As we walked through these works of art, we noticed many Cornell alumni had donated many of these art pieces. It’s true what people say, that many of the finest institutions of learning can’t operate without the generous support of their alumni…Well, we certainly reaped the benefits of those alumni: no admission fee and impressive works of art on display.
The higher we ascended, the views got better and better. We just loved the big & wide windows everywhere! What a museum…
In conclusion:
Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University is a can’t miss attraction when visiting the Finger Lakes region of New York. The drive into Ithaca from anywhere is a destination unto itself as the drive is therapeutic thanks to bucolic country views and gentle rolling hills.
We were impressed by the art work, but in all honesty, we loved the museum’s architecture and the fantastic views of the campus, the mountains, and Cayuga Lake from within the museum. It is a view we will not forget for years to come! Wow…
Thank you for reading and happy trails!
Jake
Wandering Money Pig
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