Cleveland Museum of Art
Encyclopedia
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum situated in the Wade Park District
, in the University Circle
neighborhood on Cleveland
's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian
and Egyptian
art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000 works of art from around the world. The Cleveland Museum of Art has remained historically true to the vision of its founders, keeping general admission free to the public.
The Cleveland Museum of Art was founded as a trust in 1913 with an endowment from prominent Cleveland industrialists Hinman Hurlbut, John Huntington and Horace Kelley. The neoclassical, white Georgian Marble
, Beaux-Arts building was constructed on the southern edge of Wade Park, at the cost of $1.25 million. Wade Park and the museum were designed by the local architectural firm, Hubbell & Benes, with the museum planned as the park's centerpiece. The 75 acres (303,514.5 m²) green space takes its name from philanthropist Jeptha H. Wade
, who donated part of his wooded estate to the city in 1881. The museum opened its doors to the public on June 6, 1916, with Wade's grandson, Jeptha H. Wade II, proclaiming it, 'for the benefit of all people, forever.' Wade, like his grandfather, had a great interest in art and served as the museum's first vice-president, and later as president in 1920. Today, the park, with the museum still its centerpiece, is on the National Register of Historic Places
.
-born modernist
architect Marcel Breuer
, provided angular lines in distinct contrast with the flourishes of the 1916 building's neoclassical facade. In 1983, a third addition was made to house the museum's now expansive library, as well as to provide sufficient space for nine new galleries. Both the 1958 and 1983 additions, however, would be demolished to make way for the museum's largest expansion to date, a glass and steel structure designed by award-winning Uruguyan architect, Rafael Viñoly
.
While the first phase of the project cost saw $9.3 million in cost overruns and pushed back the initial reopening by 9 months, (then) museum director Timothy Rub
assured the public that increase in quality would be worth both the wait and expense.
In June 2008, after being closed for nearly three years for the overhaul, the museum reopened 19 of its permanent galleries to the public in the renovated 1916 building main floor.
On June 27, 2009, the newly constructed East Wing (which contains the Impressionist, Contemporary, and Modern art collections) opened to the public.
On June 26, 2010, the ground level of the 1916 building reopened and now houses the collections of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sub-Saharan African, Byzantine, and Medieval art.
When completed, the expanded museum will include enhanced visitor amenities consisting of new restrooms, an expanded store and café, parking capacity increased to 620 spaces, and a 34000 square feet (3,158.7 m²) glass-covered courtyard.
In 2010, the Museum announced the appointment of a new director, David Franklin
, formerly deputy director of the National Gallery of Canada
.
The Museum has a $600 million endowment, making it "one of the wealthiest in the nation."
's The Thinker
, which sits atop of the museums main staircase. The statue has a unique but troubled history. Partially destroyed in a 1970 bombing (allegedly by The Weathermen
), the statue has been left in its unrestored condition. The reasoning for not repairing it stems from the close involvement of Rodin in its original casting. Today, the damage—which is notated on the plaque mounted at the base of the statue's pedestal—has come to define the casting as unique among the more than twenty original large castings.
Other prominent sculptures in the garden include Chester Beach's 1927 Fountain of the Waters; a monument to the Polish expatriate and American Revolutionary War
-hero Tadeusz Kościuszko
; and the 1928 bronze statuary sundial by Frank Jirouch, Night Passing the Earth to Day, which sits across Wade Lagoon from the museum, near the park's entrance on Euclid Avenue.
, El Greco
, Poussin
, Rubens, Frans Hals
, Gerard David
, Goya
, J.M.W. Turner, Dalí
, Matisse
, Renoir, Gauguin
, Church, Cole, Corot, Eakins, Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, Bellows. The Museum has been active recently in acquiring later 20th-century art, having added important works by Warhol, Pollock, Christo, Kiefer, Richter, Clemente, Kossoff, Close, Mangold, Tansey and LeWitt, among others.
The museum also maintains a schedule of special exhibitions, lectures, films and musical programs. The department of performing arts, music and film hosts a film series and the VIVA! & Gala concert series, which brings creative energies of internationally renowned artists into Cleveland.
The department of education at CMA creates programs for lifelong learning from lectures, talks and studio classes to outreach programs and community events, such as Parade the Circle", Chalk Festival and the "Winter Lights Lantern Festival". Educational programs include distance learning, "Art to Go", and the "Educator's Academy". The museum is also home to the Ingalls Library, one of the largest art museum libraries in the United States with almost 431,000 volumes.
of Apollo Sauroktonos, believed to be an original work by Praxiteles
of Athens
. Because the work has a contested provenance, the museum continues to study the dating and attribution of the sculpture. In 2011, Michael Bennet, the Greek and Roman arts curator, announced that he had dated the piece to 350 B.C. to 250 B.C.
The museum is especially strong in the field of Asian art, possessing one of the best collections in the U.S.
In 2008, the United States Postal Service selected the Cleveland Museum's famed Botticelli painting entitled, Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist, as the Christmas stamp for that year.
, and commissions for new works of Philadelphia composer Joseph Hallman among others.
Wade Park District
The Wade Park District is an historic district on the National Register of Historic Places, located in the University Circle neighborhood on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. The district, which covers roughly 650 acres, is bounded by Chester Avenue and Euclid Avenue on the south, East Boulevard...
, in the University Circle
University Circle
University Circle, is a neighborhood located on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. It is best known for its world-class cultural, educational and medical institutions, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Museum of Art, Lakeview Cemetery, and University...
neighborhood on Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian
Asian art
Asian art can refer to art amongst many cultures in Asia.-Various types of Asian art:*Afghan art*Azerbaijanian art*Balinese art*Bhutanese art*Buddhist art*Burmese contemporary art*Chinese art*Eastern art*Indian art*Iranian art*Islamic art...
and Egyptian
Art of Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian art is the painting, sculpture, architecture and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BC to 300 AD. Ancient Egyptian art reached a high level in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic...
art, the museum houses a diverse permanent collection of more than 43,000 works of art from around the world. The Cleveland Museum of Art has remained historically true to the vision of its founders, keeping general admission free to the public.
History
Beginnings
"For the benefit of all people, forever."The Cleveland Museum of Art was founded as a trust in 1913 with an endowment from prominent Cleveland industrialists Hinman Hurlbut, John Huntington and Horace Kelley. The neoclassical, white Georgian Marble
Georgia Marble Company
The Georgia Marble Company was founded in 1884 by Henry Fitzsimmons. Fitzsimmons leased out all the land in Pickens County, Georgia, that contained rich Georgia marble. Pickens County has a vein of marble long, half as wide and deep.-Company history:...
, Beaux-Arts building was constructed on the southern edge of Wade Park, at the cost of $1.25 million. Wade Park and the museum were designed by the local architectural firm, Hubbell & Benes, with the museum planned as the park's centerpiece. The 75 acres (303,514.5 m²) green space takes its name from philanthropist Jeptha H. Wade
Jeptha Wade
Jeptha Homer Wade was an American industrialist, philanthropist, and one of the founding members of Western Union Telegraph....
, who donated part of his wooded estate to the city in 1881. The museum opened its doors to the public on June 6, 1916, with Wade's grandson, Jeptha H. Wade II, proclaiming it, 'for the benefit of all people, forever.' Wade, like his grandfather, had a great interest in art and served as the museum's first vice-president, and later as president in 1920. Today, the park, with the museum still its centerpiece, is on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Mid to Late 20th Century Expansion
In March 1958, the first addition to the building opened, doubling the museum's floorspace. In 1971 the museum again expanded with the opening of the North Wing. With its stepped, two-toned granite facade, the addition designed by the HungarianHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
-born modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
architect Marcel Breuer
Marcel Breuer
Marcel Lajos Breuer , was a Hungarian-born modernist, architect and furniture designer of Jewish descent. One of the masters of Modernism, Breuer displayed interest in modular construction and simple forms.- Life and work :Known to his friends and associates as Lajkó, Breuer studied and taught at...
, provided angular lines in distinct contrast with the flourishes of the 1916 building's neoclassical facade. In 1983, a third addition was made to house the museum's now expansive library, as well as to provide sufficient space for nine new galleries. Both the 1958 and 1983 additions, however, would be demolished to make way for the museum's largest expansion to date, a glass and steel structure designed by award-winning Uruguyan architect, Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly
Rafael Viñoly is an Uruguayan architect living in the United States.-Biography:He was born in Montevideo, Uruguay to Román Viñoly Barreto, and Maria Beceiro ....
.
Expansion in the 21st Century
The museum's building and renovation project, "Building for the Future", began in 2005 and was originally targeted for completion in 2012 (now 2013). The $350 million project—two-thirds of which is earmarked for the complete renovation of the original structure—will add two new wings, and is the largest cultural project in Ohio's history. The new east and west wings, as well as the enclosing of the atrium courtyard under a soaring glass canopy, will bring the museum's total floor space to 592000 square feet (54,998.6 m²) (an increase of approximately 65%).While the first phase of the project cost saw $9.3 million in cost overruns and pushed back the initial reopening by 9 months, (then) museum director Timothy Rub
Timothy Rub
Timothy F. Rub is an American museum director and art historian. He currently holds the position of the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, one of the largest museums in the United States.- Biography :...
assured the public that increase in quality would be worth both the wait and expense.
In June 2008, after being closed for nearly three years for the overhaul, the museum reopened 19 of its permanent galleries to the public in the renovated 1916 building main floor.
On June 27, 2009, the newly constructed East Wing (which contains the Impressionist, Contemporary, and Modern art collections) opened to the public.
On June 26, 2010, the ground level of the 1916 building reopened and now houses the collections of Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Sub-Saharan African, Byzantine, and Medieval art.
When completed, the expanded museum will include enhanced visitor amenities consisting of new restrooms, an expanded store and café, parking capacity increased to 620 spaces, and a 34000 square feet (3,158.7 m²) glass-covered courtyard.
In 2010, the Museum announced the appointment of a new director, David Franklin
David Franklin (curator)
David Franklin is an art museum curator and director.In 2010, Franklin was named director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. He was formerly the deputy director of the National Gallery of Canada....
, formerly deputy director of the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
.
The Museum has a $600 million endowment, making it "one of the wealthiest in the nation."
Wade Park
The park also provides an outdoor gallery, with part of the museum's holdings being showcased in the Wade Park Fine Arts Garden. The bulk of this collection are located between the original 1916 main entrance to the building and the lagoon. Highlights of this sizable collection of public sculpture include the large cast of RodinAuguste Rodin
François-Auguste-René Rodin , known as Auguste Rodin , was a French sculptor. Although Rodin is generally considered the progenitor of modern sculpture, he did not set out to rebel against the past...
's The Thinker
The Thinker
The Thinker is a bronze and marble sculpture by Auguste Rodin, whose first cast, of 1902, is now in the Musée Rodin in Paris; there are some twenty other original castings as well as various other versions, studies, and posthumous castings. It depicts a man in sober meditation battling with a...
, which sits atop of the museums main staircase. The statue has a unique but troubled history. Partially destroyed in a 1970 bombing (allegedly by The Weathermen
Weatherman (organization)
Weatherman, known colloquially as the Weathermen and later the Weather Underground Organization , was an American radical left organization. It originated in 1969 as a faction of Students for a Democratic Society composed for the most part of the national office leadership of SDS and their...
), the statue has been left in its unrestored condition. The reasoning for not repairing it stems from the close involvement of Rodin in its original casting. Today, the damage—which is notated on the plaque mounted at the base of the statue's pedestal—has come to define the casting as unique among the more than twenty original large castings.
Other prominent sculptures in the garden include Chester Beach's 1927 Fountain of the Waters; a monument to the Polish expatriate and American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
-hero Tadeusz Kościuszko
Tadeusz Kosciuszko
Andrzej Tadeusz Bonawentura Kościuszko was a Polish–Lithuanian and American general and military leader during the Kościuszko Uprising. He is a national hero of Poland, Lithuania, the United States and Belarus...
; and the 1928 bronze statuary sundial by Frank Jirouch, Night Passing the Earth to Day, which sits across Wade Lagoon from the museum, near the park's entrance on Euclid Avenue.
Holdings
Permanent gallery collection
The Cleveland Museum of Art divides its collections into 15 departments including Chinese Art, Modern European Art, African Art, Drawings, Prints, European Painting & Sculpture, Textiles & Islamic Art, American Painting & Sculpture, Greek & Roman Art, Contemporary Art, Medieval Art, Decorative Art & Design, Art of the Ancient Americas and Oceania, Photography and Contemporary Art. Artists represented by significant works include Botticelli, CaravaggioCaravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
, 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...
, Poussin
Nicolas Poussin
Nicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...
, Rubens, Frans Hals
Frans Hals
Frans Hals was a Dutch Golden Age painter. He is notable for his loose painterly brushwork, and helped introduce this lively style of painting into Dutch art. Hals was also instrumental in the evolution of 17th century group portraiture.-Biography:Hals was born in 1580 or 1581, in Antwerp...
, Gerard David
Gerard David
Gerard David was an Early Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator known for his brilliant use of color.-Life:...
, Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
, J.M.W. Turner, Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Renoir, Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
, Church, Cole, Corot, Eakins, Monet, van Gogh, Picasso, Bellows. The Museum has been active recently in acquiring later 20th-century art, having added important works by Warhol, Pollock, Christo, Kiefer, Richter, Clemente, Kossoff, Close, Mangold, Tansey and LeWitt, among others.
The museum also maintains a schedule of special exhibitions, lectures, films and musical programs. The department of performing arts, music and film hosts a film series and the VIVA! & Gala concert series, which brings creative energies of internationally renowned artists into Cleveland.
The department of education at CMA creates programs for lifelong learning from lectures, talks and studio classes to outreach programs and community events, such as Parade the Circle", Chalk Festival and the "Winter Lights Lantern Festival". Educational programs include distance learning, "Art to Go", and the "Educator's Academy". The museum is also home to the Ingalls Library, one of the largest art museum libraries in the United States with almost 431,000 volumes.
Ingalls Library
In addition to its comprehensive collection of fine art, the Cleveland Museum of Art is also home to the Ingalls Library, one of the largest art libraries in the United States. As part of the initial 1913 plan by the museum's founders, a library of 10,000 volumes was to be assembled, to include photographs and archival works. By the 1950s, the collection of books alone had surpassed 37,000 and the photographic collection neared 47,000. Today, with more than 431,000 volumes (and 500,000 digitized slides), renovation of the library space was one of the focal points in the museum's $350 million dollar expansion.Collection highlights
In June 2004, the museum acquired an ancient bronze sculptureBronze sculpture
Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply a "bronze".Common bronze alloys have the unusual and desirable property of expanding slightly just before they set, thus filling the finest details of a mold. Then, as the bronze cools, it...
of Apollo Sauroktonos, believed to be an original work by Praxiteles
Praxiteles
Praxiteles of Athens, the son of Cephisodotus the Elder, was the most renowned of the Attic sculptors of the 4th century BC. He was the first to sculpt the nude female form in a life-size statue...
of Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
. Because the work has a contested provenance, the museum continues to study the dating and attribution of the sculpture. In 2011, Michael Bennet, the Greek and Roman arts curator, announced that he had dated the piece to 350 B.C. to 250 B.C.
The museum is especially strong in the field of Asian art, possessing one of the best collections in the U.S.
In 2008, the United States Postal Service selected the Cleveland Museum's famed Botticelli painting entitled, Virgin and Child with the Young John the Baptist, as the Christmas stamp for that year.
Festivals
The museum has also take an active role in presenting music concerts and lectures. These include performances by the Cavani Quartet, Alisa WeilersteinAlisa Weilerstein
Alisa Weilerstein is an American cellist. She was named a 2011 MacArthur Fellow.-Life and career:Weilerstein started playing the cello at age four. She made her debut at age 13 with the Cleveland Orchestra playing Tchaikovsky's Variations on a Rococo Theme. As a soloist she has performed with a...
, and commissions for new works of Philadelphia composer Joseph Hallman among others.
External links
- Official site
- FRAME - The Cleveland Museum of Art is a member of FRAME (French Regional American Museum Exchange) and has presented and contributed to FRAME-sponsored exhibitions.