The Cincinnati Art Museum, which can be found in the beautiful Eden Park, is home to an extensive art collection that numbers more than 67,000 pieces and spans a time period of 6,000 years. The museum is known for hosting a number of national and international traveling exhibitions each year in addition to showcasing the extensive collection that it has acquired over the years.
The museum offers a diverse selection of art-related programs, activities, and special events for visitors to choose from in addition to the opportunity to view the many exhibitions. Because of the generosity of the Rosenthal Family Foundation, general entry is never charged to any attendees. Members of the museum are entitled to special privileges.
The museum is made possible by the generous contributions of people, businesses, and organizations that are made on a yearly basis to ArtsWave. In order to foster economic expansion, educational superiority, and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans, the Ohio Arts Council contributed to the funding of the museum with state tax monies. The museum would like to express its gratitude to the City of Cincinnati and to all of our museum members for their help in keeping the museum open.
Public art museums were still very much of a new concept towards the tail end of the nineteenth century, particularly as far west as Cincinnati. However, by the turn of the nineteenth century, the city had developed into one of the most significant centers of art and design in the Midwest, and many people believed that establishing an art museum was the next step that should have been taken. This included the members of the Women’s Art Museum Association, which was created in 1877 to promote the benefits such an institution would give to the community and was comprised of women who were interested in preserving the history of women’s art. It is largely due to their ceaseless efforts that support for establishing an art museum slowly increased over the years, and in 1881, a public subscription garnered sufficient funds to ensure the continuation of the endeavor.
In order to develop and manage the brand-new art museum in Cincinnati, on February 15, 1881, the Cincinnati Museum Association was formally established as a nonprofit organization. The location of the structure was the first decision made by the association. After giving serious thought to both Washington Park and Burnet Woods, they ultimately decided to move their event to Eden Park, which is situated close to the heart of Cincinnati yet is elevated enough to avoid the worst of the city’s industrial pollution. James W. McLaughlin, considered to be one of the most prominent architects in the Cincinnati area, was hired to design the museum and supervise its construction.