Bloomsbury artists

"A Room of Their Own: The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections," July 18 to Oct. 18 at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, will showcase the prolific and complex artistic output of a group of early 20th-century artists and writers. With more than 190 paintings, watercolors, drawings, books and decorative works, the traveling exhibition will be accompanied by an exhibition catalog, a visitors' guide, multimedia and Web resources, and programming including a July 23 lunchtime tour and an Oct. 2-3 scholarly symposium.

The Bloomsbury Group included writers Virginia Woolf, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, Katherine Mansfield, Vita Sackville-West, D.H. Lawrence and T.S. Eliot; philosopher Bertrand Russell; and artists Vanessa Bell (Woolf's sister), Roger Fry, Duncan Grant and Dora Carrington. Issues they confronted include war, the value of craft in an industrialized world, women's rights, environmental protection, and the search for the true, the good and the beautiful.

Also at the Johnson Museum: "After Hiroshige: A Century of Modern Japanese Prints," through July 26; and "The Art of China's Cultural Revolution," through Oct. 11.

Free concerts

Cornell's School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions sponsors free concerts during the summer, Tuesdays at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts and Fridays on the Arts Quad. Ithaca New Orleans Dixieland Band will perform July 17 at 7:30 p.m. on the Arts Quad. Classical music lovers will enjoy "An Evening with Fanny," a recreation of the musical salons of Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, July 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Schwartz Center's Kiplinger Theatre. The series also offers a lecture, "Mindless Eating: Secrets and Solutions," by Brian Wansink, director of Cornell's Food and Brand Lab, July 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Statler Auditorium. Information: http://www.summer.cornell.edu/events.

Economic realities

Why does a $500 tuxedo rent for $90 a day while a $20,000 car rents for only $40? Why are child-safety seats required in cars but not in airplanes? Why is Braille on the keypads of drive-up cash machines? Robert Frank, professor of management and economics at the Johnson School, uses simple economic principles to answer these questions and more in his new book, "The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything." Frank will read from the new work, sign books and answer questions July 21 at 6 p.m. at Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca. Information: http://www.summer.cornell.edu/events.

Political thriller

Cornell Cinema will show director Costa-Gavras' suspenseful political thriller "Z" July 17, 19 and 21 in Willard Straight Theatre. Based on events in Greece -- the uncovering of a secret right-wing organization and a vast police and government conspiracy after the killing of a peace activist in 1963 -- "Z" was banned in Greece upon its release in 1969. Costa-Gavras shot the film in Algeria with an international cast, including Yves Montand and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Classical gas

The GrassRoots Chamber Orchestra will perform its fifth annual concert July 19 at 9:30 a.m. at the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance at the Trumansburg (N.Y.) Fairgrounds. The 45-member ensemble is the only classical group at the festival. They will perform Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture; Bach's Double Concerto, with violinists Judy Hyman and Laurie Hart; three movements of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony; and two pieces from the orchestra's first-ever composition competition -- "River of Blood" by Justin Merritt and "Armemoria" by Amy Kazandjian. The orchestra is conducted by Cayenna Ponchione, public services supervisor with Cornell's Sidney Cox Music Library. Information: http://www.grassrootsfest.org.