Dayton Art Institute

The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts located in Dayton, Ohio, in the United States. Founded in 1919 as the Dayton Museum of Fine Arts, it has grown into one of the region's premier cultural institutions and is counted among the leading art museums in the United States. The museum ranks in the top 3% of all art museums in North America in three of four factors and has been rated one of the top ten best art museums in the country for children. Its collection contains more than 27,000 objects spanning 5,000 years of art history, housed in an Italian Renaissance-style building that sits atop a hill overlooking downtown Dayton and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007, the institute recorded 303,834 visitors.

The Dayton Art Institute traces its origins to February 28, 1919, when the Dayton Museum of Arts was officially incorporated. Its founding patrons included prominent community leaders such as Orville Wright and members of the Patterson family of NCR, as well as Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, who donated a downtown mansion, the Kemper house at the corner of Monument Avenue and St. Clair Street, for the museum's first home. The institution began as an art school with a small art collection. The name was changed to the Dayton Art Institute in 1927, later sources indicate 1923, to reflect the growing importance of its educational mission. Rapid growth during its first decade necessitated a larger facility. Through Carnell's leadership and her pledge of $2 million, construction began in 1928 on a new building at Riverview Avenue and Belmonte Park, a site previously occupied by the home of C. L. Hawes. The building was designed by renowned museum architect Edward B. Green of Buffalo, New York, and was inspired by Carnell's love of Italian Renaissance architecture. The new museum soft-opened on January 7, 1930, and opened to the public on January 10, 1930. During the Great Depression, thousands sought respite at the museum, which offered not only galleries but musical programs, classes, social events, and even a collection of birds and animals known as Weng's Zoo, named after director Siegfried Weng, who served from 1929 to 1950. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. In 1994, the museum launched its Renaissance Campaign, the largest capital campaign in its history, which funded a major renovation and expansion. The institute reopened in June 1997 with more than 35,000 square feet of additional exhibition space, including the Entrance Rotunda and James F. Dicke Gallery of Contemporary Art, and the enclosure of the Shaw Gothic Cloister as an event space. Ongoing renovations in the 21st高处 century have included window replacement, restoration of the Grand Staircase, restroom upgrades, and renovation of the Mimi and Stuart Rose Auditorium. The grand front staircase renovation was completed in late 2020. In 1955, the Leo the Lion sculpture from the closed Steele High School was installed on the museum grounds, where it remains today.

The Dayton Art Institute's collection has grown from approximately 200 objects when the 1930 building opened to more than 27,000 objects today, covering 5,000 years of art history. Only about 1,000 works can be displayed at any given time. The encyclopedic collection encompasses African, American, Ancient Americas, Antiquities, Asian, Contemporary, European, Glass, Photography, Textiles, and Works on Paper. The Dicke Wing of American Art traces the evolution of American art from colonial times to the 21st century, including colonial furniture and decorative arts. The institute is particularly noted for its Asian art, 17th-century Baroque, 18th- and 19th-century American, and contemporary art collections. The museum has made a commitment to collecting works by underrepresented artists, particularly minorities and women. The first registered object in the collection was the bronze sculpture fountain Joy of the Waters by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, a gift from Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell in 1919. Originally located in the garden of the first museum location, it was moved to the Italian Cloister, now the Hale Cloister, of the new building, and later to the Dicke Wing of American Art following conservation during the Renaissance Campaign. The museum has built a tradition of organizing outstanding special exhibitions, beginning as early as 1960 with the Chrysler Collection of French Paintings, which attracted 56,000 visitors. Notable later exhibitions have included Theme and Improvisation: Kandinsky and the American Avant-Garde, Edgar Degas: The Many Dimensions of a Master French Impressionist, Eternal China: Splendors from the First Dynasties, The Triumph of French Painting: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse, Form from Fire: Glass Sculpture by Dale Chihuly, and The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt, which featured the largest selection of antiquities ever loaned by Egypt. In 2006, the museum hosted Diana, a Celebration, and in 2011-2012, American Chronicles: The Art of Norman Rockwell. The museum also hosts concerts, family and youth programs, classes, and social events. A jazz series presents performers in the Shaw Gothic Cloister, and regular performances are held on the historic Skinner pipe organ in the Mimi and Stuart Rose Auditorium. Annual fundraising events include Curated, Art Ball, Oktoberfest, which dates to 1971, and Bourbon and Bubbles.

The Dayton Art Institute building is a prominent example of Second Renaissance Revival architecture, designed by Edward B. Green and completed in 1930. The design was modeled after two Italian Renaissance structures: the Casino in the gardens of the Villa Farnese at Caprarola and the garden stairs at the Villa d'Este near Rome. The nearly 60,000-square-foot building is constructed of yellow stone with a dominant hip red tiled roof. The front hillside stairway was inspired by Italian Renaissance garden stairs. The building was originally constructed with imported roof tiles from Italy, but these were replaced by Ludowici tiles in 1979 due to damage from Ohio winters. The structure features spacious galleries, a glorious Great Hall, and two open-air cloisters, one of which, the Shaw Gothic Cloister, was enclosed during the 1997 renovation to create an event space. An outstanding curving stairway graces the classically detailed facade. The building is visible from and easily accessible from Interstate 75, which passes through the center of Dayton. It sits on a hill on the edge of the Great Miami River, overlooking downtown Dayton, in the Grafton Hill neighborhood. The adjacent Masonic Temple, which opened in 1929, is an architecturally prominent neighbor on the hill. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.

The Dayton Art Institute is located in Dayton, Ohio, and is open to the public Wednesdays through Sundays. The museum is easily accessible from Interstate 75. General admission to the collection galleries is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors aged 60 and over, active military personnel, and groups, $5 for college students aged 18 and over with identification and for youth, and free for children aged 6 and under and for museum members. Admission includes access to the collection galleries as well as all current special and focus exhibitions. Some programs and events may carry additional charges. The museum's website, daytonartinstitute.org, provides information on current exhibitions, events, and planning a visit. The collection can also be explored through an online eMuseum portal, launched with support from Steve and Kate Hone, which allows searching of the entire collection. Since January 2008, Janice Driesbach has served as director of the Dayton Art Institute. The museum is committed to education programming for diverse audiences and maintains its role as both a museum and an educational institution, reflecting its origins as an art school.