By Emily J. Peters, Curator of Prints and Drawings — Prized for its brilliant coloring and matte surface, the pastel medium was used by artists in Europe as early as the 16th century. But it was the 18th century that saw the zenith of the medium, coinciding with the enormous rise in popularity of portraiture as an artistic genre. …

By Robin Hanson, Conservator of Textiles, The Cleveland Museum of Art, and Holly Witchey, Adjunct Professor, Department of Art History and Art, Case Western Reserve University —

By Dean Yoder, Senior Conservator of Paintings and Head of Paintings Conservation — Venus Discovering the Dead Adonis, one of the most important and powerful Italian Baroque paintings in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA), is undergoing a multiyear conservation effort (fig. 1). The mythological story of Venus and Adonis owes its origin to Ovid’s Metamorphoses. This interpretation is probably…

Benjamin Levy, Guest Curator and PhD Candidate at Case Western Reserve University The exhibition Photographs in Ink, on view through April 2, 2023, looks at the intersection of photography and printmaking. Whether used for visual communication or creative expression, photographic images produced in printer’s ink have increasingly saturated our daily…

By Bill Griswold, Director and President — The Cleveland Museum of Art acknowledges the passing of internationally acclaimed architect Rafael Viñoly. …

By William H. Robinson, Paul J. and Edith Ingalls Vignos Jr. Senior Curator of Modern Art — The Cleveland Museum of Art has recently acquired one of James Tissot’s finest paintings, Two Figures at a Door (The Proposal?) (fig. 1). Tissot straddled the worlds of French Impressionism and British Victorian art. One biographer astutely described him as “the most English of all French painters.”[1] The son of…

By Andrew Cappetta, Manager of Collection and Exhibition Programs Literary Cleveland is a nonprofit organization and creative writing center that empowers people to explore other voices and discover their own. Through an expanding roster of multilevel classes, workshops, and events, Literary Cleveland assists writers and readers at all stages of…

From the Digital Innovations and Technology Services team Looking Back It’s hard to believe that January marks four years of open access at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Since the 2019 launch the CMA continues to invest in its open access program, inspired by Director William Griswold’s words announcing the CMA’s open…

By Bill Griswold, Director and President On Monday, January 16, the Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) opens its doors and special exhibitions — as we do every year — for a free daylong celebration honoring the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It seems fitting that we also reflect on…