Wheels of Time: Bicycles and More Roll into Cincinnati Art Museum

For centuries, many have enjoyed summertime by hopping on a bicycle and going for a ride. Although encased indoors in an air-conditioned building, the Cincinnati Art Museum is taking visitors out for a stroll in one of its latest exhibitions, Cycle Thru! The Art of the Bike. But unlike a typical ride that goes through, say, a park or trail, Cycle Thru! pedals through the history of bicycling and bike design. “The continued power of the bicycle as a vehicle for change and artistic inspiration comes to life in this multi-media presentation,” explains Cincinnati Art Museum Curator of Decorative Arts & Design Amy Dehan on the museum’s website. “...We bring you nostalgia, progress, and delight! Your soul will ‘pop a wheely!’”

Currently on view until August 24, Cycle Thru! displays over 20 bicycles that date from the bigwheeled velocipedes of the 1860s to the sleek, aerodynamic models of today. Not only is a bike viewed as transportation in this exhibit, but it is also what the museum refers to as “an evolving icon, a connector of cultures, and a vehicle for autonomy and freedom to all, regardless of age, gender, and geography.”

At the core of any bike design is a vehicle made from two wheels and a frame. However, as seen in the exhibit, there have been many interpretations of how a bike should look. Some examples on display will be familiar to some, such as a seafoam green 1950s Huffy Radio Bike with a built-in radio in its “gas tank” or Pee-wee Herman’s iconic 1953 Schwinn DX Cruiser from the 1985 film Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (see here for more on Pee-wee Herman bikes). Others, like an 1878 Ariel High Wheel, also known as a penny-farthing, that is powered by a towering front, and a c. 1880 Otto Dicycle that places the rider between two enlarged wheels, appear so different than today’s standard bike that they will have visitors asking, “how do you ride that thing?” Museum guests will also spot a 1901 Wolff -American Ice bicycle that, with the assistance of a kit, navigated icy terrain through a studded back wheel and a front wheel contraption that made the bike move with sled-like mobility.

Although there is a diverse selection of bikes to see, Cycle Thru! uses the assistance of fine art on loan—works by Bari Kumar, Bas Jan Ader, and Jarbas Lopes—and photographs from the Cincinnati Art Museum’s collection—by Ralph Steiner, Aaron Siskind, and Christine Osinski—to tell the histories of these vehicles within a social and artistic context. A collection of 1900s women’s cycling gear, vintage circus posters, and prints by Jean Dubuffet and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec are also mounted in the installation to provide a deeper context.

The first exhibition of Cycle Thru! was held at The Church in Sag Harbor, New York, as Re:Cycle—The Ubiquitous Bike in 2023 and was created in partnership with The Bicycle Museum of America in New Bremen, Ohio.

The current exhibition in Cincinnati is presented by the Cincinnati Cancer Foundation and RIDE Cincinnati, with additional support provided by Montgomery Cyclery.

For more information about Cycle Thru! The Art of the Bike is at the Cincinnati Art Museum; go to cincinnatiartmuseum.org.

All objects are owned by the Bicycle Museum of America, New Bremen, Ohio. All photographs are courtesy of the Cincinnati Art Museum.

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