THE DAYTON ART INSTITUTE

Celebrating 89 Years of Collecting, Interpreting and Celebrating Visual Art (1919-2008)

Mission Statement

The mission of The Dayton Art Institute is to provide a diverse audience with knowledge, pleasure, cultural awareness and sensitivity to the visual environment by collecting, exhibiting and preserving the fine arts; promoting and cultivating aesthetic values in the visual arts; and providing exposure to the arts through a variety of structured and unstructured learning experiences.

An Historical Overview

2008 marks the 89th anniversary of The Dayton Art Institute, one of the nation’s finest mid-sized art museums. Founded in 1919 as the Dayton Museum of Fine Arts, the museum also operated a traditional art school. Its founding patrons included prominent leaders such as Orville Wright and the Patterson brothers, founders of NCR. Originally occupying an impressive mansion in downtown Dayton, the museum was quickly embraced by the entire community.

During its first decade, the museum outgrew the mansion. Mrs. Julia Shaw Carnell, a prominent community leader, pledged to construct a new museum if the community would then endow and pay for its operations. Mrs. Carnell’s generosity of nearly $2 million, a significant gift in the early days of the Great Depression, created a land-mark building. Completed in 1930, the building was modeled after the Villa d’Este near Rome and the Villa Farnese at Caprarola in Italy, both examples of sixteenth century Italian Renaissance architecture. The museum facility was designed by prominent museum archi-tect Edward B. Green of Buffalo. More than 80 years later, the building still houses The Dayton Art Institute and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Sitting atop a hill on the edge of the Great Miami River over-looking downtown Dayton, the museum was renamed The Dayton Art Institute to reflect the growing importance of its school as well as its museum. The striking building of nearly 60,000 square feet soon became known as “Dayton’s Living Room.” People from all walks of life came to the Art Institute to visit the permanent collections and special exhibitions, to attend a variety of classes, or to stroll in the gardens on a Sunday afternoon.

During the past decade, the museum has reaffirmed its tradition of providing outstanding educational programs and special exhibitions. Over the past several years, the museum’s collection has grown significantly through generous gifts of artwork by local donors, including important Oceanic art, Asian art, and American fine and decorative art collections. The collection, now comprised of more than 27,000 objects spanning 5,000 years of art history, is rated as “superb in quality” by the American Association of Museums.

In September 1994, the museum announced its largest ever capital campaign, with a goal of $22 million to fund a major renovation and expansion of the museum’s infrastructure; increase and improve our educational and outreach programs; and fund an endowment for the new facility. In December 1996, the museum reached $23.5 million in capital contributions. With the completion of the nearly two-year capital project, an even greater emphasis was placed on outreach toward under-served audiences, including our community’s African-American and Appalachian populations. The Dayton Art Institute reopened in June 1997 with more than 35,000 square feet of additional exhibition space and completely renovated permanent collection galleries.

Since its beginning, the museum has built a tradition for organizing outstanding special exhibitions. As early as 1940, the museum began organizing exceptional exhibitions such as the Chrysler Collection of French Paintings, which attracted 56,000 visitors. In 1992, the museum’s special exhibition, Theme & Improvisation: Kandinsky & the American Avant-Garde, traveled to other prominent institutions and received international acclaim. In 1994, the Art Institute organized the exhibition EDGAR DEGAS: The Many Dimensions of a Master French Impressionist, which broke the existing attendance record with 84,000 visitors and put The Dayton Art Institute solidly on the art museum map. In early 1998, the Art Institute organized ETERNAL CHINA: Splendors from the First Dynasties, which drew 111,000 visitors from all 50 states and more than 20 foreign countries.

In 2001, The Dayton Art Institute hosted two blockbuster exhibitions, THE TRIUMPH OF FRENCH PAINTING: Masterpieces from Ingres to Matisse and FORM FROM FIRE: Glass Sculpture by Dale Chihuly, which attracted 54,000 and 104,000 visitors respectively.

The Dayton Art Institute continued its tradition of offering world-class special exhibitions with THE QUEST FOR IMMORTALITY: Treasures of Ancient Egypt in 2005. The largest selection of antiquities ever loaned by Egypt, the exhibition included a life-sized reconstruction of the burial chamber of an Egyptian pharaoh and more than 100 magnificent objects, many of which had never been on public display or seen outside of Egypt. This exhibition shattered all previous records for special exhibitions, attracting nearly 122,000 visitors to the museum.

In 2006, the museum hosted DIANA, A CELEBRATION -- the award-winning exhibition honoring the life and work of Diana, Princess of Wales. More than 120,000 visitors viewed nearly 150 objects, including Diana’s world-famous 1981 Royal Wedding gown, 28 designer dresses and gowns, family heirlooms, personal mementos, paintings, and rare home movies and photos. The exhibition was on loan from the Althorp Estate, the princess’s 500-year-old ancestral home in England.

The Dayton Art Institute will continue to develop ways of better serving museum visitors and attracting targeted, underserved audiences, such as the African-American community, families with young children, and young professionals. With innovative programming, increased technology and expanded services, The Dayton Art Institute will continue to thrive in the 21st century.