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"Pairing Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's flamboyant and seductive prints of Paris nightlife with Ansel Adams' American wilderness photographs seems a bit of stretch - even preposterous. What could they have in common? Colorful prints of the fin de siecle singing, cavorting and cackling in smoke-and-absinthe-filled cabarets adjacent to bold, black-and-white pictures depicting vast open spaces is more than just a contrast: You'd be hard -pressed to find two artists and subjects more different. The two main summer exhibits at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, \"Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Bohemian Paris\" and \"Ansel Adams: Early Works,\" present a conundrum of bringing opposites together. Although not in the same gallery, they're only a few steps away from each other, begging the comparison. In Toulouse-Lautrec's ubiquitous 1890s \"Belle Epoque\" series documenting the lively Montmartre neighborhood in Paris during the 1890s at places like Moulin Rouge, you won't find a patch of green. For Adams, who is in the pantheon of American landscape artists, working in the 20th century when photography truly comes of age, there isn't a single human. Yet the exhibits feed off each other in a surprising way. Add the evocative James McNeill Whistler, with an intimate, introspective exhibit of the 19th-century artist in the upstairs gallery, and things get interesting. There's an underlying creative tension between all of them, as if virtuosos playing the same concert hall at the same time. Tucked away in the label texts is their connection. Toulouse-Lautrec describes music as the underlying theme that sparks his creativity, while Adams, an accomplished pianist in his youth, writes \"Nature contains the elements, in colour and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains notes in music.\" It is their musicality that binds them together. Flings of the shoulder, the angle of a leg, a wry facial gesture, all in simple lines on paper, yields the infectious movement and tone underscoring Toulouse-Lautrec's staying power. On the other hand, Adams has peaks providing the altos, with angular rock ledges the bass line, and jagged-ice formations the crescendos. Meanwhile, the Whistler exhibit, aptly titled \"The Perfection of Harmony,\" is a soothing bridge between Toulouse-Lautrec and Adams. His impressionistic brushstrokes of water and buildings, with some humans, have an ethereal quality that induces more contemplation than his counterparts' flashy and bold realism-a refreshing interlude. This musical motif is enhanced by a rousing production of \"La Boheme'' at nearby Glimmerglass Music Festival. Several years ago, Glimmerglass and the Fenimore began to collaborate by tying one exhibit with one performance each year. This year, Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition includes ''La Boheme'' costumes from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. All of the exhibits have a few stars, but, for the most part, they offer glimpses into each artist's process through drawings and sketches, rather than the big hits. There's Toulouse-Lautrec's \"Jane Avril\" and \"Mary Belfour,\" while \"Yosemite\" and \"Moonrise, Hernandez\" shine for Adams. It's Whistler at his best in \"The Guidecca ; Note in Fresh Colour\" (1879-80), with its masterly use of light in measured dollops to seep through the scene instead of overtaking it. All three exhibitions are strong in their own right. They're not designed to be retrospective or major surveys, but small slivers of the artists' works based on a single collection, either from a museum or private holdings. They're inherently quirky. By putting them together, the curators have enhanced their individuality through their diverse companions. Tim Kane is a frequent contributor to the Times Union."
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