Discover more about the art, history, and experiences that bring the Taft Museum of Art to life—within and beyond its walls!
“Wear Union Stamped Shoes” declared the Boot & Shoe Workers’ Union, whose slogan you can see on this pocket mirror in the Taft Museum of Art's latest special exhibition, "Walk This Way | Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes." This mirror, along with a shoe from the early 1900s, sparked the inspiration for my latest Museum Musings.
At the turn of the 20th century, few art collectors in Cincinnati shared the passion and determination of Charles Phelps Taft and Anna Sinton Taft.
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?
As it turns out, Cincinnati was one of the largest manufacturers of boots and shoes in the United States for much of the early 1900s. Factories in Boston, Lynn, and Haverhill, Massachusetts were the main centers of production, but they could not compete with Cincinnati.
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 Conner Longworth. The couple had lived at the Pike Street mansion for nearly thirty years by the time this merry event occurred.
What do the Taft Museum of Art and Rookwood Pottery have in common? More than you think. The answer to the 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.
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.
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.