Museum Musings

Have you ever wondered how the watches in the Taft Museum of Art’s collection were made? To better understand how watchmakers created the movements (i.e. the moving parts of a watch) housed in these small technological wonders, our associate curator, Ann Glasscock, PhD took an introduction to watchmaking class!

Wandering through the Taft Museum of Art’s collection galleries, you might spy a miniature ceramic woman balancing in her bare feet on a huge flower. Her serene expression belies vast power. She represents Guanyin, a deity who transformed from male to female and gained a new name over two thousand years of being venerated.

Read about Hiram Powers, America’s most famous sculptor at the time, and the influence of Cincinnati’s Western Museum during the late 19th century.

“Wear Union Stamped Shoes” declared the Boot & Shoe Workers’ Union, whose slogan you can see on this pocket mirror in our latest exhibition, Walk This Way | Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes.

Anna Sinton Taft, the cofounder of the Taft Museum of Art, is undoubtedly the best-known woman to have lived in the Taft historic house. Most museum visitors know her name by the time they conclude their visit. Do you know the names of any other women who lived here? 

Curious what my favorite shoes are in our upcoming exhibition Walk This Way: Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes? Here’s your chance to find out! Plus, you can learn a bit about what makes each pair special. 

We reflect on an illustrated book commemorating the “Golden Wedding”—meaning the fiftieth wedding anniversary—of former Taft historic house residents Nicholas Longworth and Susan Howell Connor Longworth. The couple had lived in the Pike Street mansion for nearly thirty years by the time this merry event occurred. 

Three years ago, I was asked to put together an exhibition of Cincinnati art to celebrate the bicentennial of the Taft Museum of Art’s historic house. One of the first steps, of course, would be locating works of art that were beautiful, compelling, and rarely exhibited. One of the questions I often hear is, “How did you go about choosing the works for the exhibition?” Here I hope to shed some light on that process.

What do the Taft Museum of Art and Rookwood Pottery have in common? More than you think. The answer to this question involves the granddaughter of Cincinnati’s first commercial winemaker, a collection of Chinese porcelain, and the “Soldier King” and “Red Cross Queen.” Intrigued?

As I begin my thoughts about Chinese tea and its rich history, I start with a quote from the English playwright Arthur Pinero (1855–1934): “While there is tea, there is hope.” We can find hope in any number of places. In 1937 Lin Yutang wrote in his book The Importance of Living, “There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.” I encourage you to try and find a moment of peace and hope in perhaps an unexpected place: a cup of tea.