
Greek revival facade of the Monroe Street entrance, Toledo Museum of Art
The 'Toledo Museum of Art' is an internationally known
art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of
Toledo, Ohio,
United States. The museum was founded by Toledo glassmaker
Edward Drummond Libbey in
1901, and moved to its present location, a
Greek revival building designed by Edward B. Green and Harry W. Wachter, in
1912. The building was expanded twice in the
1920s and
1930s.
The museum contains major collections of
glass art and of
19th and
20th century European and
American Art, as well as small but distinguished
Renaissance,
Greek and
Roman, and
Japanese collections. Notable individual works include
Peter Paul Rubens's ''The Crowning of Saint Catherine,'' significant minor works by
Rembrandt and
El Greco, and modern works by
Willem de Kooning,
Henry Moore, and
Sol LeWitt.
A concert hall within the east wing, the Peristyle, is built in a classical style to match the museum's exterior. The hall is the principal concert space for the
Toledo Symphony Orchestra. A
sculpture garden, containing primarily
postwar works (earlier sculptures are on display in the interior) was added in 2001, and runs in a narrow band along the museum's Monroe Street facade.

The
Rubens painting, ''The Crowning of Saint Catherine'', from the collection of the Toledo Museum of Art
A Center for the Visual Arts, designed by
Frank Gehry, was added in the
1990s; the Center includes the museum's library as well as studio, office, and classroom space for the art department of the
University of Toledo. In
2000,
architect Kazuyo Sejima was chosen to design a new building, to house the museum's glass collection; the commission was her first in the United States. The Glass Pavilion opened in August 2006 to considerable critical acclaim; in his review for ''
The New York Times'',
Nicolai Ouroussoff said, "Composed with exquisite delicacy, the pavilion’s elegant maze of curved glass walls represents the latest monument to evolve in a chain extending back to the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles." Ouroussoff commented on the Pavilion's relationship with the Museum's other buildings:
The building showcases the Museum's original glass collection in addition to several new works, including one prominent glass sculpture by
Dale Chihuly. The Glass Pavilion is the result of the largest public fundraising drive in Toledo's history.
References
★ Ouroussoff, Nicolai.
"A Crystal Showcase Reflects a City’s Glass Legacy." ''The New York Times'', August 28, 2006.
★ Davis, Ben.
"Glass Houses" ''Artnet Magazine'', Aug. 30, 2006.
External links
★
Official museum webpage
★
Center for Visual Arts, University of Toledo
★
more info on Toledo.com