A Long Tradition: Dragons in the East Asian Collection
4/16/2024
2024 is the Year of the Dragon, according to the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, which presents a perfect opportunity to look at Chinese dragons as a theme in East Asian art.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Charming Portrait of the Honorable Augusta Herbert
4/11/2024
This charming portrait of the Honorable Augusta Herbert, by British artist John Hoppner (1758–1810), is long overdue for cleaning.
Accessible Expressions Ohio: Welcoming Everyone to the Museum
4/4/2024
The Cincinnati Art Museum strives for inclusivity by increasing accessibility to its collection, programming, and resources. The museum seeks to eliminate barriers by accommodating the individual needs of all visitors.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: A chemical peel?
3/14/2024
As paintings conservators, we may use chemicals, but we certainly don’t give facials.
Behind the Scenes in the 10x10 Team: Voting
3/13/2024
On February 1, 2024, the 10x10 Teen Volunteer Team reviewed submissions for the 6th Annual 10x10 Teen Art Expo. Their evaluation criteria focused on the interpretation of this year’s theme, “Behind the Scenes.”
New Acquisitions to be unveiled on April 2, 2024, in Gallery 150
3/11/2024
Two works by Lesley Dill (American, b. 1950)
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Innovator of Printing and Design
3/7/2024
Two prints by Willim Hentschel came through the paper lab with old hinges and pressure sensitive tapes. The artist’s work is unlike any other in the collection.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Shoes with the Blues
2/29/2024
These elegant pale blue kid leather shoes came to the lab for a new storage tray and interior padding, but they are interesting because they bear tell-tale damage from a specific collection pest: silverfish.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Micromosaic Jewelry
2/22/2024
This week in objects conservation, we are working on several pieces of micromosaic jewelry made in Italy during the late-19th century.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Macro-Scanning Cézanne’s Still Life
2/15/2024
Last month, three Northwestern scientists brought their highly specialized scanning and imaging equipment to the museum and spent a week in our Paintings/Objects lab.
Renovations & Transformations: A Museum Makeover
2/13/2024
If you’ve visited the Cincinnati Art Museum in the past few months, you might have noticed construction work on the museum’s first floor, just past the Great Hall, where Hiram Power’s marble sculpture of Eve Disconsolate once stood.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Preparing Woo Chong Yung for Display
2/8/2024
Preparations are well underway for the upcoming exhibition From Shanghai to Ohio: Woo Chong Yung (1898-1989). In fact, we have been developing the show for more than four years.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Putting Our Best Foot Forward
2/1/2024
Something is afoot with these shoes! Can you put your finger (or toe) on the difference?
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Reconstructing a Shattered Glass Shade
1/25/2024
This iridescent green shade came to the lab in a box of fragments. Piece by piece, I built the individual fragments back into a shade.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Cleaning a Visitor Favorite: Girl Eating Porridge
1/18/2024
This visitor favorite, Girl Eating Porridge, by French artist Adolphe William Bouguereau (1825–1905), was acquired by the museum in 1884, a mere ten years after the artist painted it.
Reframing the World’s Fairs
1/16/2024
If we look at just one example—the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago—we can see how these celebrations of artistic and scientific achievements also communicated complex messages about identity and race.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Treatment of Cincinnati’s Galt House
1/11/2024
In my post of November 30, I promised to explain what it took to improve the appearance and the mechanical condition of Emil Klauprecht’s 1830s lithograph, Galt House.
Behind the Scenes with the 10x10 Team: Getting Ready
1/10/2024
The main goal of the 10x10 Teen Art Expo is to highlight 7–12 graders' artwork—all created in a 10-inch-by-10-inch format—interpreting a theme the 10x10 Teen Volunteer Team chooses.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Small Wonders: Tiraz Textile Fragments
1/4/2024
Check out some small wonders from the world of textile artwork!
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Reconstructing a Japanese Doll’s Tea Set
12/28/2023
These tiny ceramic fragments are part of a Japanese doll’s tea set. I am working on putting these pieces back together so that they can be displayed with their doll in the future.
Illuminating the Exhibition Process
12/21/2023
As a curator, I’m often asked how long it takes to bring an exhibition together. The answer is . . . it varies.
2023 Wrapped
12/14/2023
Join us as we look back on our noteworthy milestones and accomplishments of the past year.
Green Team: Repurposing Exhibition Building Materials
12/14/2023
What happens to an exhibition’s display cases after a temporary show has ended and all the art has been de-installed?
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: A Portrait’s Curious Characteristics
12/7/2023
This small painting by American artist Julian Alden Weir (1852–1919) was donated to the museum by the artist in 1911.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Traveling for the Holidays?
11/30/2023
At first glance it is obvious the print has had a rough life.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Getting technical with textiles! What’s “selvage”?
11/16/2023
We’ve got it all! All the width of this 1920s embroidered voile (fine soft sheer fabric), that is.
Accra and London, via Detroit
11/13/2023
In early October, I was delighted to participate in a scholars’ day at the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA). For those outside the museum biz, a scholars’ day is a convening of curators, academics, and sometimes expert collectors, artists, and gallerists, who gather to share a deep dive on an artist or movement featured in a special exhibition.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Revealing the Details of an Egyptian Scarab Ring
11/9/2023
Several small copper alloy objects, pieces of jewelry and articles of adornment, are all showing signs of bronze disease.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Gainsborough’s Ladies
11/2/2023
These three portraits by 18th-century British artist Thomas Gainsborough are in the paintings conservation lab to be examined for the British catalog project.
Behind the Scenes in Conservation: Repairing an Ancient Egyptian Jar
10/12/2023
In the Conservation Lab, we are working on this large ceramic jar from Dynasty I Egypt (3100–2900 BCE).
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