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The Mummies: From Egypt to Toledo
Feb. 3, 2018 — May. 6, 2018In 1906 the founders of the Toledo Museum of Art, Edward Drummond Libbey and Florence Scott Libbey, visited Egypt, where they purchased a pair of Egyptian mummies as part of a collection of artefacts. This special installation will trace the history of Egyptian mummies, from their lives and burial rituals in Late Dynasty Egypt to their rediscovery during the Napoleonic era and the resulting Egyptomania for subsequent generations.Explore several intersecting issues for TMA and other cultural museums related to the collecting and display of these fascinating and significant objects, including whose mummies are these, do they belong in an art museum and what can we learn from them?
Before Audubon: Alexander Wilson's Birds of the United States
Apr. 21, 2018 — Jul. 22, 2018Fourth in the Toledo Museum of Art’s biennial exhibitions focused on bird-themed art, the exhibition coincides with local birding festival the Biggest Week in American Birding, which brings tens of thousands of birders to the area to observe the spring migration of songbirds. It will be the first time that the Toledo Museum of Art’s first edition of Wilson’s pioneering multi-volume publication has been exhibited.
Decades in the Making: Highlights from the Toledo Federation of Artists Societies
Apr. 28, 2018 — Jun. 24, 2018This retrospective exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of TFAS and the century-long tradition of celebrating and recognizing the best artists in the region by TMA. It will showcase more than 20 works of art in a wide variety of media from the approximately 270 works purchased for the TFAS collection over the last 60 years.
Celebrating Libbey Glass, 1818-2018
May. 4, 2018 — Nov. 25, 2018To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Libbey Glass Company and its tradition of excellence in glassmaking, the TMA has organized this major exhibition of glass that shares the story of American ingenuity in glass making.
Rebecca Louise Law: Community
Jun. 16, 2018 — Jan. 13, 2019British artist Rebecca Louise Law has designed and created a site-specific installation using both dried and fresh plant materials to form an immersive visitor experience that explores the relationship between humanity and nature. The artist sourced thousands of plants and flowers native to the region for the project, which required 1,650 volunteer hours of assistance from community members, thematically and literally representing northwest Ohio. A proponent of sustainability, Law has also repurposed flowers that were previously used in her other installations from around the world.
Sights & Sounds: Art, Nature, and the Senses
Jul. 21, 2018 — Feb. 24, 2019A multisensory art installation of video, new media and works on paper by artists from around the world launches a recently renovated gallery dedicated to contemporary art at the Toledo Museum of Art. Sights & Sounds: Art, Nature, and the Senses presents modern and contemporary works of art in a variety of media that explore and relate to the natural world. Many of the works are recent acquisitions installed for the first time, while others from TMA’s acclaimed collection have only been shown occasionally.
Mel Chin: Two Me
Sep. 22, 2018 — Nov. 11, 2018Mel Chin’s Two Me invites the public to elevate and pose as living monuments. A noted conceptual artist, Chin's work takes many different forms to pose philosophical questions about the nature of human experience and connection. Two Me was originally commissioned for the courtyard in front of Philadelphia’s City Hall in 2017. The site-specific installation will find a temporary new home on the front terrace of the Toledo Museum of Art where it will be on display from Sept. 22 through Nov. 11, 2018.
The Snake Charmer and the French Avant-Garde
Sep. 25, 2018 — Dec. 31, 2018Regarded as one of Henri Rousseau’s most significant works, The Snake Charmer demonstrates why this self-taught artist was so highly admired during his lifetime by the pioneers of 20th- century painting, including Pablo Picasso, Robert Delaunay, and Vasily Kandinsky. This visionary artist who worked as a customs agent (douanier) on the outskirts of Paris (he was famously nicknamed Le Douanier Rousseau) was known especially for his depictions of dreamlike jungles filled with plant and animal life.
Frans Hals Portraits: A Family Reunion
Oct. 13, 2018 — Jan. 6, 2019This exhibition was prompted by the Toledo Museum of Art’s acquisition in 2011 of Frans Hals’s Van Campen Family in a Landscape, as well as the recent conservation of Brussels’ Three Children of the Van Campen Family. These two works originally formed one composition, separated for unknown reasons likely in the late 18th century or early 19th century. The exhibition reunites the sections of the Toledo/Brussels painting.
Expanded Views: Native American Art in Focus
Oct. 25, 2018 — Apr. 28, 2019Over the past several years the Museum has been working to build up its collection of Native American works of art, both historical and contemporary. Expanded Views: Native American Art in Focus features the new acquisitions in this area, and presents a large scale work by the artist James Lavadour, on loan for this exhibition. Works as diverse as a traditional Acoma Manta and Cherokee tipi cover will be shown together with contemporary works by Lavadour and artists Wendy Red Star and Marie Watt. Additionally, a select number of paintings from the Museum’s established American paintings collection will be shown as part of the installation.