Toledo Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum
located in the Old West End
neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio
, United States
. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey
in 1901, and moved to its present location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B. Green and Harry W. Wachter
in 1912. The building was expanded twice in the 1920s and 1930s.
The museum contains major collections of glass art
of the 19th and 20th century European
and American art
, as well as small but distinguished Renaissance
, Greek and Roman
, and Japanese
collections. Notable individual works include Peter Paul Rubens's The Crowning of Saint Catherine, significant minor works by Rembrandt and El Greco
, and modern works by Willem de Kooning
, Henry Moore
, and Sol LeWitt
, as well as Fragonard's Blind man's bluff
.
A concert hall within the east wing, the Peristyle, is built in a classical style to match the museum's exterior. The hall is the principal concert space for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra
. A sculpture garden
, containing primarily postwar
works (earlier sculptures are on display in the interior) was added in 2001, and runs in a narrow band along the museum's Monroe Street facade.
, was added in the 1990s. It includes the museum's library as well as studio, office, and classroom space for the art department of the University of Toledo
. In 2000, the architectural firm of SANAA
was chosen to design a new building, to house the museum's glass collection; the commission was her first in the United States. Front Inc. was appointed to assist the architects in developing technical concepts for the glass wall systems. The Glass Pavilion opened in August 2006 to considerable critical acclaim; in his review for The New York Times
, Nicolai Ouroussoff
said, "Composed with exquisite delicacy, the pavilion’s elegant maze of curved glass walls represents the latest monument to evolve in a chain extending back to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles." Ouroussoff commented on the Pavilion's relationship with the Museum's other buildings:
The building showcases the museum's original glass collection in addition to several new works, including one prominent glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly
. The Glass Pavilion is made possible through the largest public fundraising drive in Toledo's history.
Art gallery
An art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
located in the Old West End
Old West End
The Old West End is a historic neighborhood in Toledo, Ohio and is considered to be "the largest neighborhood of late Victorian, Edwardian , and Arts & Crafts homes east of the Mississippi."...
neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker Edward Drummond Libbey
Edward Drummond Libbey
Edward Drummond Libbey is the father of the glass industry in Toledo, Ohio, where he opened the Libbey Glass Company in 1888.-Biography:Libbey was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, USA...
in 1901, and moved to its present location, a Greek revival building designed by Edward B. Green and Harry W. Wachter
Harry W. Wachter
Harry Wilcox Wachter was an American architect in Toledo, Ohio. He was the local architect involved in the design and construction of the Toledo Museum of Art, working with Edward B. Green's Buffalo, New York firm on the Greek revival building...
in 1912. The building was expanded twice in the 1920s and 1930s.
Exhibits
Glass art
Studio glass or glass sculpture is the modern use of glass as an artistic medium to produce sculptures or three-dimensional artworks. Specific approaches include working glass at room temperature cold working, stained glass, working glass in a torch flame , glass beadmaking, glass casting, glass...
of the 19th and 20th century European
Western art history
Western art is the art of the North American and European countries, and art created in the forms accepted by those countries.Written histories of Western art often begin with the art of the Ancient Middle East, Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Aegean civilisations, dating from the 3rd millennium BC...
and American art
Visual arts of the United States
American art encompasses the history of painting and visual art in the United States. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement,...
, as well as small but distinguished Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, Greek and Roman
Roman art
Roman art has the visual arts made in Ancient Rome, and in the territories of the Roman Empire. Major forms of Roman art are architecture, painting, sculpture and mosaic work...
, and Japanese
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture in wood and bronze, ink painting on silk and paper and more recently manga, cartoon, along with a myriad of other types of works of art...
collections. Notable individual works include Peter Paul Rubens's The Crowning of Saint Catherine, significant minor works by Rembrandt and El Greco
El Greco
El Greco was a painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El Greco" was a nickname, a reference to his ethnic Greek origin, and the artist normally signed his paintings with his full birth name in Greek letters, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος .El Greco was born on Crete, which was at...
, and modern works by Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....
, Henry Moore
Henry Moore
Henry Spencer Moore OM CH FBA was an English sculptor and artist. He was best known for his semi-abstract monumental bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art....
, and Sol LeWitt
Sol LeWitt
Solomon "Sol" LeWitt was an American artist linked to various movements, including Conceptual art and Minimalism....
, as well as Fragonard's Blind man's bluff
Blind Man's Bluff (Fragonard)
Blind man's bluff is a painting by the French Roccoco painter Jean Honoré Fragonard, produced around 1769 in oil on canvas. It is full of deceptions - the girl is looking out from under her blindfold and the game seems to be a pretext leading to seduction; the two figures are in pastoral costume,...
.
A concert hall within the east wing, the Peristyle, is built in a classical style to match the museum's exterior. The hall is the principal concert space for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra
Toledo Symphony Orchestra
Toledo Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra in Toledo, Ohio. It's the biggest "musical resource for the region". They perform in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana...
. A sculpture garden
Sculpture garden
A sculpture garden is an outdoor garden dedicated to the presentation of sculpture, usually several permanently sited works in durable materials in landscaped surroundings....
, containing primarily postwar
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
works (earlier sculptures are on display in the interior) was added in 2001, and runs in a narrow band along the museum's Monroe Street facade.
Glass Pavilion
A Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Frank GehryFrank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
, was added in the 1990s. It includes the museum's library as well as studio, office, and classroom space for the art department of the University of Toledo
University of Toledo
The University of Toledo is a public university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. The Carnegie Foundation classified the university as "Doctoral/Research Extensive."-National recognition:...
. In 2000, the architectural firm of SANAA
SANAA (firm)
SANAA is an architectural firm. It was founded in 1995 by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. In 2010, Sejima and Nishizawa were awarded the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honor.-Biography:...
was chosen to design a new building, to house the museum's glass collection; the commission was her first in the United States. Front Inc. was appointed to assist the architects in developing technical concepts for the glass wall systems. The Glass Pavilion opened in August 2006 to considerable critical acclaim; in his review for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Nicolai Ouroussoff
Nicolai Ouroussoff
Nicolai Ouroussoff is the architecture critic for The New York Times.-Biography:Born in Boston, Massachusetts United States, he received a bachelor’s degree in Russian from Georgetown University and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of ArchitectureThe protégé of the...
said, "Composed with exquisite delicacy, the pavilion’s elegant maze of curved glass walls represents the latest monument to evolve in a chain extending back to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles." Ouroussoff commented on the Pavilion's relationship with the Museum's other buildings:
The Glass Pavilion is part of a loosely knit complex that includes the Beaux-Arts-style art museum here and the University of Toledo’s Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Frank Gehry. With its grand staircase leading up to a row of Ionic columns, the original museum is both a temple to art and a monument to the belief in high culture’s ability to uplift the life of the worker. The new structure’s low, horizontal form fits in this context with remarkable delicacy, as if the architects hesitated to disturb the surroundings.
The building showcases the museum's original glass collection in addition to several new works, including one prominent glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly
Dale Chihuly
Dale Chihuly is an American glass sculptor and entrepreneur.-Biography:Chihuly graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington. He enrolled at the College of the Puget Sound in 1959...
. The Glass Pavilion is made possible through the largest public fundraising drive in Toledo's history.
Resources
- Ouroussoff, Nicolai. "A Crystal Showcase Reflects a City’s Glass Legacy." The New York Times, August 28, 2006.
- Davis, Ben. "Glass Houses" Artnet Magazine, Aug. 30, 2006.