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Cincinnati Art Museum
Considered one of the oldest art
museums in the nation, the Cincinnati Art Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio
was begun in 1881 and was the first purposely constructed art museum
west of the Alleghenies. Housing over 60,000 works of art, it
contains one of the most comprehensive collections in the country,
and the Romanesque-revival structure was designed by local architect
James McLaughlin. Over its 120 year history, there have been many
changes and additions that have altered the original building, with
the latest happening in 2003, the Cincinnati Wing that contains
works by or for the residents of the city. The new wing contains 15
new galleries that unfold into 18,000 square feet of space holding
400 objects. Two of the biggest pieces in this collection are the
Odoardo Fantacchiotti angels that were originally made for the main
altar of the St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in the latter part of the
1840s. These were some of the first European sculptures that came to
the city, with other works by Luman Watson, Frank Duveneck, Robert
Scott Duncanson and Rookwood Pottery. During the last part of the
19th century, public art museums were something of a new novelty,
particularly as far west as Cincinnati, but after the wonderful
success of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition that was held in
Philadelphia, the Women's Art Museum Association was created in
Cincinnati so that art could be brought to the city for the benefit
and enjoyment of all. As enthusiasm grew, the Cincinnati Museum
Association was formed in 1881 and in 1886, a brand new building was
finished in Eden Park that was soon known worldwide as the Art
Palace of the West. The citizenry of the city continued to support
the museum, and the marvelous donations that came from many
important Cincinnatians increased the collection to the tens of
thousands which in turn created the need for more space. The
Schmidlapp Wing opened in 1907, that was continued with many more
projects that added space to the museum. The Emery, Hanna and French
wings that opened in the 1930s, enclosed the courtyard and allowed
the museum to continue its rectangular shape and added space for the
Asian, American and European collections to be shown permanently. As
time continued forward, the collections grew and magnified and in
1993, the $13 million project that was to restore the interior's
architecture soon uncovered many hidden architectural details.
The collections span some 6000 years of history that includes the
artworks of Africa, America, near and far east art, and the ancient
art of Rome, Greece and Egypt that contain decorative arts,
contemporary art, drawings, photographs, costumes, textiles,
paintings and prints. The paintings include works by masters Rubens,
Titian, van Dyck, Gainsborough, Miro, Picasso, Renoir, Braque,
Chagall, Derain and Modigiliani from Europe, while the Americans are
represented by Harnett, Rothko, Wood, Hopper, Cole, Wyeth, Copley
and Diebenkorn. A few of the many treasures you will find here
include the only collection of ancient Nabataean art out of the
country of Jordan, a spectacular collection of American and European
portrait miniatures and the famous Herbert Greer French collection
of old master prints.
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