1939
Local art appreciators Peggy Frank, Betty Pollack and Rita Rentschler form the Cincinnati Modern Art Society, which presents its inaugural exhibition, Modern Paintings from Cincinnati Collections, in the basement of the Cincinnati Art Museum.
1941-47
The Society presents exhibitions of the art of Marsden Hartley, Stuart Davis, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, Henri Rousseau, Le Corbusier, Fernand Léger, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Rufino Tamayo and Theo van Doesburg.
1952
The Cincinnati Art Museum remodels a large part of its lower floor to serve as permanent exhibition galleries for the Society, which members rename the Contemporary Arts Center (CAC).
1963
The CAC presents one of the first museum exhibitions of pop art, An American Viewpoint 1963, featuring work by Jim Dine, Robert Indiana, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol and Tom Wesselmann.
1970
The CAC moves to the Mercantile Center downtown and 10,000 square feet of exhibition space designed by Harry Weese. At the time, it's one of the largest exhibition venues in the United States devoted to contemporary art. The inaugural exhibition in the new space, Monumental Art, spreads onto Fountain Square, where large-scale works of sculpture are installed.
1976-80
The CAC organizes exhibitions of the work of Jennifer Bartlett, Carl Andre, Duane Michals, Jackie Winsor, Robert Kushner, Anne and Patrick Poirier and Alice Aycock and performances by Steve Reich, Maya Angelou, Laurie Anderson, Terry Riley, Bill T. Jones and the Philip Glass Ensemble.
1988
The CAC commissions Andrew Leicester to create a public sculpture for the entranceway to the newly constructed Sawyer Point Park on the riverfront. His design -- featuring sculptures of flying pigs -- draws criticism and becomes part of the ongoing national debate on public art.
1989
State officials agree to help fund a plan to move the CAC to the Emery Theatre building in Over-the-Rhine but reconsider when ideas surface to build a downtown performing arts center; the state funds are instead diverted to what eventually becomes the Aronoff Center for the Arts.
1990
The CAC furthers the public debate over contemporary art when it hosts the exhibition Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment. Director Dennis Barrie and the center are prosecuted on obscenity charges but win the subsequent trial.
1995
Charles Desmarais is appointed director.
1996
The CAC proposes relocating to the corner of Sixth and Walnut streets across from the new Aronoff Center.
1997
The CAC selects three architects -- Zaha Hadid, Daniel Liebeskind and Bernard Tschumi -- as finalists to design the new building.
1998
"Cities don't often get the opportunity to create a new civic symbol. But that's what Charles Desmarais says he offers the city, promising to make the new CAC facility an architectural icon. Against downtown's drab buildings -- the recently opened Fountain Place and the Aronoff Center itself -- he envisions the new CAC becoming a Queen City landmark a la the Tyler-Davidson Fountain. In a city both conservative and suspicious of outside influences, the CAC's attempts to select an architect who will design a building that will 'challenge the worlds of architecture and art' is both a bold and brave move." (CityBeat cover story, Building a Better City, issue of Feb. 5-11, 1998)
Cincinnati City Council approves funds to buy the parcels of land needed for the new CAC building.
The CAC announces Zaha Hadid as the project's architect.
"The reactions of the community are very important to me because they have to also use it. I'm trying to challenge them. But if you are doing a building which has to be used, the success is how it's used. ... I think it's very important to make a building where, for example, they pass by the street and say, 'Oh, there's something going on here.' " (Zaha Hadid interview in CityBeat cover story, The Unveiling of Zaha Hadid, issue of Nov. 12-18, 1998)
1999
Arts patrons Lois and Richard Rosenthal donate $5 million to the new building; the Board of Trustees votes to name it the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art.
2000
The CAC declines to publicly celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Mapplethorpe exhibition, a decision that meets with mixed reviews.
"To be in the public eye is to be subjected to criticism -- it comes with the territory. I'm proud of our program, proud of our past, proud of our artistic record. Part and parcel with art is its history. So every exhibition is, in a sense, recognition of our past. There's nothing more for us to prove." (Charles Desmarais in CityBeat interview, issue of March 30-April 5, 2000)
"No one in Cincinnati or anywhere should be in denial over what happened 10 years ago. The CAC came out of it a stronger institution. It's going ahead with the new building. It's more robust than ever." (Dennis Barrie in CityBeat interview, issue of March 30-April 5, 2000)
"There are millions of reasons why the CAC chose not to bring Mapplethorpe back into the public eye. The CAC is fighting to complete its new building capital campaign. A good deal of money still needs to be raised to make its Zaha Hadid-designed home a reality. It would be fiscally foolish to risk losing one potential donor with a controversial exhibit. That's what museum directors do. They balance artistic decisions against business reality. The problem is when money dictates all decisions." (Arts Beat column, issue of April 20-26, 2000)
"The good news is that the Aronoff Center, unlike most new arts centers, has been operating in the black almost since opening its doors. The bad news is that the facility, particularly its main theater, Procter & Gamble Hall, sits dark way too many nights. On such nights, activity along Walnut Street feels like a bunch of high school kids having a party in the basement after Mom and Dad have gone to bed -- something's going on, but it's fairly hidden.
"Into the breach has stepped the Contemporary Arts Center, which plans to occupy the corner of Walnut and Sixth in a few years. City officials, who are trying to wrap up negotiations on land acquisition at the corner, hope the CAC will team with the Aronoff Center to push Backstage Entertainment District development to its planned conclusion." (CityBeat cover story, Is an Avenue of the Arts in Cincinnati's Future?, issue of May 4-10, 2000)
2001
The May 24 groundbreaking event features a little something for everyone -- Ben-Gals cheerleaders, music from Robin Lacy & DeZydeco and lots of noise. It's meant to prove the new CAC is throwing any sense of elitism out the window.
"What the building tries to do is show that the gates are open to everybody. It is not an exclusive space. It's in the downtown. It's on a prominent corner. It's transparent. There are no gates, so to speak. The idea with the ground floor is that people can go in, look around and walk about. ... They should not be seen as luxuries. They should be part of life. Culture and art is instrumental to helping people understand other things." (Zaha Hadid in CityBeat interview, issue of May 31-June 6, 2001)
2003
The CAC moves into its first free-standing home with a month-long celebration (see Opening Festivities).
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