Dayton Art Institute

Dayton Art Institute
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Location:	Forest and Riverview Aves., Dayton, Ohio
Coordinates:	39°45′57″N 84°12′4″W / 39.76583°N 84.20111°W / 39.76583; -84.20111Coordinates: 39°45′57″N 84°12′4″W / 39.76583°N 84.20111°W / 39.76583; -84.20111
Area:	6 acres (2.4 ha)
Built:	1930
Architect:	Edward B. Green
Architectural style:	Renaissance, Italian Renaissance Revival
Governing body:	Private
NRHP Reference#:	74001579 [1]
Added to NRHP:	November 19, 1974

The Dayton Art Institute (DAI) is a museum of fine arts in Dayton, Ohio, USA. The Dayton Art Institute was rated one of the top 10 best art museums in the United States for kids. ^[2] The museum also ranks in the top 3% of all art museums in North America in 3 of 4 factors.^[3] In 2007, the art institute saw 303,834 visitors.^[4]

History

Founded in a downtown mansion in 1919 as the Dayton Museum of Fine Arts, the museum moved to a newly designed Edward B. Green building in 1930. The DAI was modeled after the Casino in the gardens of the Villa Farnese at Caprarola, and the front hillside stairway after the Italian Renaissance garden stairs at the Villa d'Este, near Rome, and Italy. It is also visible from and easily accessible from I-75, which passes through the center of Dayton.^[5]

The museum was later renamed the Dayton Art Institute as an indication of the growing importance of its school in addition to the museum. The nearly 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m²) building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Museum Information

The museum's collection contains more than 20,000 objects spanning 5,000 years. In September, 2005, the Museum became one of eleven galleries in the US to host The Quest for Immortality: Treasures of Ancient Egypt, the largest collection of ancient artifacts ever to travel outside Egypt. In January 2008, Janice Driesbach became director of the Dayton Art Institute.

The art museum is an Italian Renaissance-style building, which sits atop a hill overlooking downtown Dayton. The Institute's highlights are the museum's Asian, 17th-century Baroque, 18th- and 19th-century American, and contemporary art collections. In addition to its collections, the museum frequently features other exhibitions.^[6]

Notable works

Allegory of the Four Seasons by Bartolomeo Manfredi

There are many works that are home to the Dayton Art Institute, some of the most notable are:^{[7] [8]}

• The Song of The Nightingale by William Adolphe Bouguereau
• Study Heads of an Old Man by Peter Paul Rubens
• High Noon by Edward Hopper
• Aurora Red Ikebana with Bright Yellow Stems by Dale Chihuly
• After the Bath by Edgar Degas
• Stacks in Celebration by Charles Sheeler
• Scene in Yosemite Valley by Albert Bierstadt
• Allegory of the Four Seasons by Bartolomeo Manfredi
• Water Lilies by Claude Monet

References

1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2009-03-13. http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov/natreg/docs/All_Data.html. 
2. ^ "Best Art Museum for Kids". http://www.parents.com/family-life/travel/us-destinations/the-10-best-art-museums-for-kids/?page=4. Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
3. ^ "Top art museum". http://www.getmidwest.com/regionOverview/arts.cfm?sectionID=ro&subNavID=7. Retrieved 2009-07-29. 
4. ^ "Attendance fact sheet". http://www.downtowndayton.org/pdfs/fs-attendance.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-14. 
5. ^ "Dayton art museum history". http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/info/history.html. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
6. ^ "Dayton art museum information". http://www.daytoncvb.com/visitors/arts-and-culture/. Retrieved 2009-05-26. 
7. ^ "Notable Works". http://www.daytonartinstitute.org/exhibits/90_Treasures_Adopt.html. Retrieved 2009-06-24. 
8. ^ "Notable Works 2". http://tours.daytonartinstitute.org/accessart/guided.cfm?TN=mh. Retrieved 2009-06-24. 

External links

• Official Museum site