MUST SEE LOIS AND RICHARD ROSENTHAL

Theirs is a plainspoken sophistication that calls no attention to itself, and yet for years Cincinnati natives Lois and Richard Rosenthal have quietly been making an indelible mark on the cultural landscape. In 1999 the Rosenthals "retired," bought a building in one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city, and started doing full-time what they'd always done part-timemaking a difference. In the renovated warehouse, they founded Uptown Arts, a school providing music, dance, and theater classes to underprivileged children. "I'm there every day, tying a hundred pairs of shoes every week," says Lois, former editor and savior of Story magazine. "New plays, new art—our goal is always to foster cutting-edge work. We have never hesitated to step forward to do the hard stuff. That's what we do best." Most recently, ⅜⅛ they celebrated the opening of the Lois and Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art—a new building for an organization which since 1939 has been "the R&D center for culture in Cincinnati." Designed by Zaha Hadid, it is the architect's first project constructed in the U.S. and the first museum in this country to be designed by a woman. The Rosenthals are looking forward to seeing the interaction of Hadid's space with upcoming shows by Polly Apfelbaum, Sanford Biggers, and Paul Kos, and two group exhibitions: "Crimes and Misdemeanors: Politics and U.S. Art of the 1980s" and "Beautiful Losers: Contemporary Art, Skateboarding, and Street Culture." "Cincinnati is a small majorleague city—one that we'd like to help make not necessarily any bigger but more notably artistically excellent," says Richard. "It is a special privilege, an honoring of my forefathers, and a thank-you to the city."

A.M.H.

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