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Dive Deeper

Discover more about the art, history, and experiences that bring the Taft Museum of Art to life—within and beyond its walls!

Chinese Tea Culture

23 September 2020

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.

A large white house with green shutters, two large green trees are on the left and right of the house.

"Excitement of the Quest"—A Neoclassical Vision

26 August 2020

Did you know that 2020 marks the bicentennial of the Taft Museum of Art's historic house? Around 1820, a simple four-sided home was built for Martin Baum (1765-1831) and his wife, Ann Sommerville Wallace Baum (1782-1864), forming the core of what would become one of Cincinnati's most historic buildings. With that, it seems only fitting that we explore the predominant style of the early 1800s: Neoclassism-an artistic approach that embraced the ideas of ancient Greece and Rome.

The Power of Art and Freedom

19 August 2020

Painted by Duncanson between 1850 and 1852 as a commission for Nicholas Longworth, then the home's owner, the spectacular murals don't reveal what was happening in Cincinnati during the turbulent time of their creation. They also don't tell us much personally about Duncanson: a man whose grandfather was born enslaved in Virginia, a man who mostly taught himself how to paint, and who became the first internationally recognized Black artist.

Limoges Meets Beijing

19 August 2020

In 2014, the Taft Museum of Art accepted a remarkable gift of 89 pieces of Chinese painted enamel copperware. The late Reverend Compton Allyn left these rare treasures to the Museum in his will. Made by painting colorful diluted glass paste onto copper forms, the enamels in Reverend Allyn’s collection illuminate a story of cultural exchange between East and West.

The Tafts and Cincinnati Art

18 August 2020

The special exhibition A Splendid Century: Cincinnati Art 1820–1920 highlights the impact made on art in the city by the former residents of the Taft Museum of Art’s historic house. Charles and Anna Taft were the last of these residents. In 1900, after Anna inherited her father David Sinton’s $20 million estate (over $500 million today), the Tafts became philanthropists and art collectors who made a lasting mark on visual art in the Queen City.

A Splendid Century

22 May 2020

By the 1840s, artists had begun coming to Cincinnati from the surrounding region to learn more about art, as well as to exhibit and to sell their work, and many born in the city enjoyed success. In 1840, a writer for the New York Star asked, “Cincinnati! What is there in the atmosphere of Cincinnati, that has so thoroughly awakened the arts of sculpture and painting?"

Balancing Wanderlust with Stay-at-Home: Two Works by JMW Turner

18 May 2020

English landscape painter J.M.W. Turner found endless inspiration in his travels. On his journeys through the United Kingdom and Europe, Turner filled hundreds of sketchbooks with tens of thousands of drawings and watercolor sketches. Back in his studio, he used this material—along with his memory and imagination—to create detailed oil paintings and watercolors. The Taft Museum of Art has brilliant examples of both in its collection.

Solved: The Mystery of the Unknown Cabinet Maker

08 February 2020

A slew of tantalizing questions surround this 18th Century furniture maker. First, was this the same Porter Clay who made the Taft Museum of Art's early Kentucky sideboard? If so, where did Clay run off to? Was he captured? When did he come back to Lexington? Finally, did he avoid a jail sentence, and if so, how? Such questions abound in an intriguing story featuring a runaway furniture maker, spiked with notes of nepotism and Kentucky luxury.

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