Carl Steckelmann and the Congo - The Steckelmann Collection of African Art at the Cincinnati Art Museum

Acquisition by the Cincinnati Art Museum

The exhibition in 1889 of Steckelmann’s collection in Cincinnati captured the admiration and imagination of the visitors who saw it. Press coverage in Cincinnati placed special emphasis on the carved ivory tusks, the patterned fiber mats (forty or so were displayed on either side of the exhibition doorway), the loom with finely woven fiber wrappers, and a model thatched house, one-third actual size. The press coverage conveys the sense that typical visitors to the exhibition must have been impressed not by the beauty of individual objects, but by the powerful visual presence created by the volume and diversity of works represented (which included multiples of ivory tusks, mats, baskets, and the like).
		Installation of Steckelmann Collection, lower floor of Cincinnati Art Museum, late 19th century. Cincinnati Art Museum Archives.

The favorable impression of the 1889 exhibition, as demonstrated by substantial coverage in the local press, clearly encouraged its acquisition by the Museum. As the author of one such newspaper article pleaded, “This remarkable collection is, we are told, only a loan to the Museum, but surely it should not be allowed to leave if it can be purchased at a fair price.” (Cincinnati Times-Star, July 23, 1889: 5)