The collection of cars in the Legend of Speed exhibit was absolutely stunning. The cars selected were appropriate and whoever put the collection together knows what they were doing. They were technically innovative, beautifully preserved or restored, and attractively displayed. Ferrari, Ford, Maserati, Lancia, Alfa Romeo, all the best performance car manufacturers (if there was a Porsche, I forgot). And the Miller race car was amazing in both its innovation and execution. The original Franklin desert racer in its original condition was an unexpected pleasure to see. If you missed the exhibit, get the book. It is every bit as impressive as the actual exhibit. It is titled, predictably, Legends of Speed. There are two books with that title, look for the blue Scarab on the cover - the most beautiful front-engined sports car ever made.
The motorcar racing vehicle display was great, the Ansel Adams exhibit was fabulous,the Western Art extensive and the inter-active "Fireflies" Kasura was a delightful addition. So, even though the museum is in some state of upheaval due to previous poor management in the recent past, it was a very good trip and worthwhile
It has been a few years since I was at the Art Museum and I forgot how good it is. Leaving, my friend asked me what was best. I replied that I was reminded of how broadly the word Art can be defined. We saw the art of shapes and colours defined by the need for speed, by the amazing firefly exhibit, by the art of Pissaro and Ed Mell and of course the photos of Ansel Adams. In short it was a wonderful 2 hours.
I enjoyed this museum immensely, the gift shop is one of the best museum shops I've visited, including unique things like a put together yourself cardboard camera to enjoy yourself or share with children. The only critical comment that I would agree with is that the layout could be confusing. However there are helpful pleasant staff everywhere to point you to where you want to go. Yes, it's smaller than some museums but also larger than others. The staff along with the exhibits made the experience well above my expectations. On entering the museum I asked about a tree planted outside and the woman apologized and said she was not familiar with the name. About twenty mins later she tracked me down, told me the name, the spelling and a brief summary. I was looking a display of tires and a guard asked what I thought, we and several other visitors had an interesting chat about "street art" vs "graffiti". He recommended an area to visit to see some examples of "street art" and I enjoyed the side trip which I would never have seen. I was peering into the Kusama's infinity mirror room and a guard offered to take me in and out, again several people joined us and enjoyed her insight into the exhibit and artist. I spent longer at the museum than I had anticipated and ended up having a late lunch at the Palette Restaurant. The food was great, the service accommodating and prompt, the location relaxing.
We stopped at the Phoenix Art Museum to see yhe Ansel Adams photo exhibit. That , of course, was great. But, there is always something unanticipated. They had an exhibition of race cars as art. Cool! Plus there were their usual exhibits of European and American paintings
