&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Another notable resident of the house was Nicholas Longworth, a wealthy Cincinnati resident and patron of the arts. Longworth hired African American artist Robert S. Duncanson to paint murals in the foyer of the home. These murals are now considered to be some of the best from the pre-Civil War period.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Duncanson’s artistic significance lives on through the Robert S. Duncanson Society, founded in 1986. The purpose of the organization is to ensure the museum maintains a strong African American presence and preserves the memory and historical significance of Robert S. Duncan himself. The organization also focuses on supporting the contemporary by providing a Duncanson Artist-in-Residence program. The 2-week program is designed for artists to become active in the Cincinnati Art Community, through school programs, workshops, etc.

The building housing the museum is the area's oldest wooden residential structure.

The museum's official website provides information on upcoming events and exhibits.

Website

The official Twitter account of the museum.

More Info

Housed in the Baum-Longworth-Sinton-Taft House, the Taft Museum of Art hosts traveling exhibitions that tend to focus on American art and history. As a result, the Taft Museum complements the works and collections on display at the nearby Cincinnati Museum of Art. The building that houses the museum is itself a work of art and an important piece of American history. Built in 1820 for Martin Baum, it is the area’s oldest residential wooden building still in its original location. The museum’s co-founder, Anna Sinton Taft, lived in the mansion with her husband Charles Phelps Taft—half-brother of President William Howard Taft—from 1837 until their deaths in 1929 and 1931, respectively. In 1927, the Tafts passed their home and private art collection to the people of Cincinnati. The house opened as the Taft Museum in 1932.

Taft Museum of Art

Learn about the lives of local artists like Frank Duveneck and Stephen C. Foster. Visit the Cincinnati area's notable fine arts centers. 

The Museum, now named Behringer-Crawford after its first
curator and archaeologist, Ellis Crawford. It features a number of interactive
exhibits and activities natural history collections, artwork and rotating
exhibits as well as educational programming for all ages. On-site digs led by
Crawford turned up a number of finds including large paleo bones.

The award-winning Museum has been expanded through the years.
An outdoor amphitheater was added to allow for additional special programming. The
Museum has documented historic Civil War battery sites including some in Devou
Park. It is located on the Civil War Discovery Trail. Many of the permanent themed collections showcase the regions history and
needs.

William Behringer was a world traveler and collected many things in his lifetime. The museum opened in 1950 to showcase many of interesting finds Behinger had collected from various animals to American Indian artifacts. The museum now serves to preserve regional history in the Ohio River Valley. It is located in DeVou Park. 

Behringer-Crawford Museum 

The town of Covington, KY was home to artist and teacher Frank Duveneck for most of his life. The property was purchased by Duveneck’s stepfather Joseph Duveneck in 1855. At the time, Frank Duveneck was known as Frank Decker, though his name would later be changed, and Joseph had only recently married Frank’s mother Catherine Decker. Prior to the construction of the current home on the property, Joseph Duveneck built the site’s first home in 1861. During this time, the neighborhood was largely made up of German immigrants like Duveneck’s parents. A combined interest in his German heritage and the arts led Duveneck to pursue his education at the Royal Academy of Munich in 1869.After earning many accolades in addition to his degree in Munich, Duveneck returned to America in 1873. At one of his first shows in Boston, Duveneck earned high praise from art critics which helped propel him to fame. Several years after that momentous show, Duveneck returned to Munich where he began his lifelong career as an educator. Duveneck’s pupils became known as the Duveneck Boys, a group of art students who would go on to follow Duveneck from Germany to Italy and later to the United States.In 1888, Duveneck returned to his family home in Kentucky after the death of his wife, Elizabeth Boott. Boott had been one of Duveneck’s students before become his wife. From his Kentucky home, Duveneck continued to produce artwork and helped to bring the artistic styles of Realism and naturalism to the United States. In 1890, he began offering classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati where he would continue to teach for most of the remainder of his life. In this position Duveneck was able to help grow the artistic community in the region and share the techniques and styles he had learned during his time in Munich and Italy.Before his death in 1919, Duveneck was able to donate a large collection of his work to the Cincinnati Art Museum. This donation and other pieces that the museum has collected have allowed Cincinnati to become the center for those wishing to study Duveneck’s work.Today Duveneck’s Covington house and studio are in a state of disrepair. Purchased by the Frank Duveneck Arts and Cultural Center after the group was founded in 1999, the home has largely been left untouched since the purchase outside of occasional volunteer yard cleanup events. A neighboring building has instead been dedicated to hosting workshops and events to educate visitors on Duveneck’s life and works. The Duveneck home and studio were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Convington's Frank Duveneck House and Studio was the home of the notable American Realism painter for 58 years. The home, now in disrepair served as Duveneck’s childhood and adult home and eventually became his art studio. Duveneck is often credited with helping bring the artistic style Realism to the United States after studying in Munich under German portraitist Franz von Lenbach. Duveneck is known also for his contributions to the arts in the region as he supported other local artists and taught art courses in the area despite having offers from major schools in other regions. The Duveneck House and Studio were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. 

Frank Duveneck House and Studio

The Contemporary Arts Center was originally founded as the Modern Art Society way back in 1939 by three women named Betty P. Rauh, Peggy F. Crawford, and Rita R. Cushman. These three women raised enough donations in order to exhibit modern art at the Cincinnati Art Museum. The society’s first exhibit was named “Modern Painting from Cincinnati Collections” and it opened in December 1939. It was not until 1954 when the society decided to rename the art gallery from the Modern Art Society to the Contemporary Arts Center. The name change came at the same time the museum’s lower level was the host of two new art galleries.Many local pieces of arts were shown in this space which have been kept in the Cincinnati Art Museum included in the Mary E. Johnson collection. The construction of the Emery Wing replaced the original space of the Contemporary Arts Center at the Cincinnati Arts Museum. In 1962, the museum curators were looking to expand so the CAC moved out inhabiting severalplaces such as the Taft Museum of Art and the Carew Tower. It found a temporary home in the Women’s Exchange Building for six years. It then moved all the way to the Mercantile Center, which opened back in 1970.The CAC suffered from financial troubles in 1971, but push through when the ladies put in over 400 exhibitions during it’s 30-year stay at the building. A permanent lease for the building was acquired in 1982 through the use of a city bond. Talks of a new home began in the 80’s as the ladies looked at the Ohio Mechanics Institute and the Aronoff Center. In 1997, the decision was made to construct the center’s first independent and free-standing building of their own. Construction of this building started in 2001 and the place officially opened on May 31, 2003.

Officially called the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art, the center opened in 2003. Designed by the late Zaha Hadid, the New York Times declared it to be the "the best new building since the Cold War.” It features 16,000 square feet of exhibition space, another exhibition, and educational space called the "UnMuseum.” It also offers musical concerts, theatrical performances, artist talks, workshops, and school programs.

Contemporary Arts Center

Stephen was the first in the country to compose music that was genuinely American. Some of his famous tunes include "Oh, Susana", "Lou'siana Belle", and "Old Uncle Ned". Themes included politics, river life, slavery, battlefields, and love of home. Foster wrote the song "Oh Susana" to tell the story of a free Black man traveling on a riverboat. The song's original lyrics utilized&nbsp;racial slurs and were sung by white men performing in Blackface. Stephen came to Cincinnati to work as a bookkeeper at the Irwin and Foster Steamboat Company but that didn't last long as his music career started to take off. The city at the time was a sort of cultural melting pot, where Irish, Scottish, African slaves, and river workers intermingled. These influences inspired many of Stephen's songs. During much of the 1850s his music would be disseminated through the touring minstrel shows called Christy Minstrels. As the Civil War approached, Stephen's songwriting began to slump and his popularity waned, along with his income despite the royalties he earned from music deals. The money he did obtain went mostly to sustain his alcohol addiction. His wife (they married in 1850) and daughter left him prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.&nbsp;Stephen died alone in a flophouse in New York City, addicted to alcohol&nbsp;to the point he sold his own clothes&nbsp;and&nbsp;neglected his health. He cut himself while shaving and&nbsp;died of an infection in&nbsp;January, 1864, in a New York City slum.&nbsp;

This marker commemorates the brief and tragin life of Stephen C. Foster (1826-1864) who became America's first professional songwriter. Some even consider Foster as the "father of American music" owing to his creation of uniquely American melodies such as "Camptown Races" and "My Old Kentucky Home." Although many of his songs featured nostalgia for the American South, Foster was a northerner who only crossed the Mason-Dixon Line one time in his thirty-eight years of life. He lived in a house at this location between 1846-1850. His songs were inspired by the work of Dan Rice, a white performer who rose to fame by painting his face Black and performing bufoonish rituals meant to unite his white audience and reinforce their belief that they were superior to African Americans. Many of Foster's lyrics reflected the orientation of Rice's performances. And while American audiences continue to sing Foster's songs, it is important to note that some of the lyrics have been altered to remove their explicitly racist message.  

Historical Marker: Stephen C. Foster

On May 10, 1876, the first World's Fair of its size to be&nbsp;held in America opened in Philadelphia. The 1876 Centennial Exhibition, originally known as the "International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures and Products of the Soil and Mine,"&nbsp;celebrated a century of American cultural and industrial progress. The Fair's massive scale was impressive at the time with over 250 pavilions housing exhibits from 37 nations, and five major buildings each showcasing a different progressive theme. Almost nine million people visited the fair, and word of its&nbsp;popularity spread across the nation. It influenced Americans to continue cultural and industrial progress. A group of women formed the Women's Art Museum Association in Cincinnati&nbsp;after taking&nbsp;inspiration from the Centennial Exhibition. Their purpose was to found a cultural institution for the public such as they had seen showcased at the World's Fair.&nbsp; The Cincinnati Museum Association was founded&nbsp;in 1881 after years of persistence. Through the Association's efforts, they established the Cincinnati Art Museum in 1886. Situated in Eden Park, the Museum was revolutionary for its time. Public art museums were rare in the late nineteenth century, especially in an area&nbsp;that was as far west as Cincinnati. Nonetheless, the Museum found community support through their donations, leading to their collections numbering in the tens of thousands, and making it necessary for the building to&nbsp;expand.&nbsp; Throughout the twentieth century, the Museum underwent many renovations. Beginning in 1907 and spanning to present day, the building expanded with the addition of six different wings (Schmidlapp Wing, Emma Wing, French Wing, Hanna Wing,&nbsp;Great Hall and the&nbsp;Adams-Emery Wing),&nbsp;and&nbsp;larger exhibition spaces. By 2003 the building's collections had grown to be the largest in Ohio, numbering over&nbsp;60,000 pieces. Today, their collections have almost doubled, numbering over 100,000 items. The Museum is home to the Mary R. Schiff Library and Archives, and&nbsp;offers numerous educational programs for adults, families, teens, and teachers. Additionally, they offer accessibility programs and&nbsp;that allows everyone to access the Museum's collections. Furthermore, their efforts to connect with the community are realized through the Museum's Community Outreach program that allows the staff to bring art and culture to the community (libraries, festivals, schools, community centers). The Cincinnati Art Museum's enormity and cultural importance reflect the influence of American cultural progression seen at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. Visitors to the Museum can experience history, culture, and art in a transformative and influential&nbsp;way. The CAM is open Tuesday-Sunday from 11am-5pm.

The Cincinnati Art Museum was founded in 1881 at a time when art museums for the public were much less common then they are today. Following its official opening in 1885, it became known throughout the world as "The Art Palace of the West." Over the years it has acquired thousands of diverse pieces by way of donations. The museum offers a number of programs open to the public as well as access to the relatively new Mary R. Schiff Library and Archives. 

Cincinnati Art Museum 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The music hall was constructed in
1878 by what is considered to be the first grant matching fundraiser. A
businessman by the name of Reuben Springer was attending a music festival in
1875 at a music hall with a tin roof when a sever thunderstorm broke out. The
storm and rain became so loud against the tin roof that the conductor had to
stop the performance. Springer became enraged and stated that a new building
was needed. He offered to donate $125,000 dollars as long as the community
could make a matching donation. Springer would go on to donate over a hundred
thousand more dollars in funds before it was all said and done. 




















&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;The music hall was built out of
3,858,000 bricks and has a gothic Victorian revival theme that even includes
turrets on the outside. The hall itself is like three buildings in one. It has
a main auditorium and two additional side wings for exhibitions. Ballets,
plays, concerts, car shows, sports games, and even proms have been held the
music hall. The main auditorium boasts a two-ton chandelier that was added in
1969. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;In 1821, the Ohio State Legislature established "a
Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum for the state of Ohio." This was
Ohio's first insane asylum. Around 1832, a cholera outbreak in Cincinnati
killed 832 people and resulted in a large number of orphans. To house the
orphans, the city constructed the "Cincinnati Orphan Asylum." The
ground around the building became a common grave. The hospital buried suicides,
strangers, and the homeless of Cincinnati, but instead of using coffins, they
simply bundled-up the deceased and dropped them into the ground.

The land was used as a “pauper’s cemetery” for the next 20
years. Serious complaints forced them to relocate out of the city limits. In
1859, the city turned the property into a park called Elm Street Park. It was
turned over to the Music Hall Association in 1876. Since there were no marked
graves on the land, Music Hall was just built over top of them. In 1988, while
digging a new elevator shaft, workers discovered over 200 human bones. 

Since these findings, Music Hall has got a reputation of
being one of the most haunted places in America. The show “Ghost Hunters” did
an episode at Music Hall and it was selected as one of The Travel Channel’s
Most Terrifying Places in America. 

Besides its haunted reputation, Music Hall remains a popular
destination for audiences for many other reasons. It is often used for
weddings, dances, corporate meetings, and trade shows.

Built in 1878, Music Hall is Cincinnati’s premier classical music hall. It is considered one of the best and most beautiful theaters in the world and it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1975.  It is a home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Cincinnati Opera, the Cincinnati Ballet, and the May festival. 

Cincinnati Area Art Tour

Taft Museum of Art

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information