{"id":320,"date":"2012-11-12T14:50:08","date_gmt":"2012-11-12T19:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/?p=320"},"modified":"2012-11-12T20:05:20","modified_gmt":"2012-11-13T01:05:20","slug":"dayton-art-institute-fail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/dayton-art-institute-fail\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton Art Institute\u2014Fail"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Dayton Art Institute is handsomely situated on a hill above the Great Miami River.  The museum’s beautiful Italianate main wing provides a remarkable view of the Dayton skyline.  Travelers along I-75 passing beneath the museum’s imposing facade can’t help but be intrigued by the marvelous piece of architecture.<\/p>\n

The museum’s collection, while not as large as in-state rivals Cleveland and Cincinnati, is significant.  I am originally from Dayton and have visited the museum many, many times over the years.  Whenever I return, it’s like visiting family members who have been part of my entire life.  “Hi, Auntie, how are you? You are looking great!”  And no matter how often I visit, I always discover new things.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Opens Renovations<\/span><\/a><\/div>

But, recent discoveries are not encouraging.  Like many modern museums, the Art Institute seems always under construction; vast areas are fenced-off.  A restaurant is being built next to the museum shop —or is it the reverse?  In addition, the staff doesn’t seem to know what to do with the space—generous space—it has.  Parts are empty and other parts a jumbled mess.  The impression is one of confusion.<\/p>\n

In its desire to find an identity that makes it relevant, the museum seems indifferent to its collection.  Relevance is the sine qua non of museums these days.  ‘Being relevant’ means relevant to the general—non museum-going—public.  The thirst for relevance usually translates into a never-ending calendar of events and performances.  Walking through the museum, one must carefully pick one’s way through old performances that are being dismantled and new ones being set up.  The permanent collection is almost hidden, like a drunken uncle with a somewhat shameful past.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>In the Studio Oct. 14 2012<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Finally arriving at the permanent collection (don’t give up, visitor, the collection can still be found scattered about!), I discover that the paintings have been grouped to conform to the thinnest, politically correct, pasted-on themes imaginable.  All stupendously relevant—no doubt.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I plunge in among my old friends—Rubens<\/a>, Murillo<\/a>, Robert Smith—and all is well.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Stephen Pentak at Bonfoey<\/span><\/a><\/div>

After my visit, I attempted to use the Art Institute’s web site.  The animated monstrosity is unusable.  Attempting to access their permanent collection is an exercise in frustration.  Searching for ‘Robert Smith’ produces nothing, yet this painting<\/a> is in their permanent collection and is on display (as discussed in this post<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Fail.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/span>Cleveland Museum of Art Staff Exhibition<\/span><\/a><\/div>

Here is the link to their web site<\/a>. Use it if you dare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Dayton Art Institute is handsomely situated on a hill above the Great Miami River.  The museum’s beautiful Italianate main wing provides a remarkable view of the Dayton skyline.  Travelers along I-75 passing beneath the museum’s imposing facade can’t help but be intrigued by the marvelous piece of architecture. The museum’s collection, while not as large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,5,6,1],"tags":[67,70,72,66,71],"class_list":["post-320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-museum","category-artists","category-paintings","category-uncategorized","tag-dayton-art-institute","tag-dayton-oh","tag-murillo","tag-robert-smith","tag-rubens"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14044,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2025\/11\/the-good-and-bad-my-experience-at-the-dayton-art-institute\/","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":0},"title":"The Good and Bad: My Experience at the Dayton Art Institute","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"November 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The last time I visited the Dayton Art Institute was an unpleasant experience. I grew up in Dayton and was intimate with its collection. I was disappointed upon discovering that the collection had been rearranged to reflect woke bromides. At bottom, woke means aligning with NGO-supported and government-mandated policies. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/L3.2017.1.jpeg?fit=500%2C375&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4473,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2014\/12\/robert-koepnick-sculptor\/","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":1},"title":"Robert Koepnick, sculptor","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"When I was in high school, my regular habit was to take the bus downtown from my suburban home outside Dayton, Ohio. After rambling about, I always went to the library to read and study. Haunting libraries was a habit I developed from\u00a0my earliest days. Anyway, above the entrance to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Kop-DAI.jpg?fit=427%2C479&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1052,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/gaertner-at-the-cleveland-museum-of-art\/","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":2},"title":"Gaertner at the Cleveland Museum of Art","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"February 12, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm an idiot, but you already knew that. After writing about discovering Frederick Gaertner in this post, I belatedly realized I had seen--on numerous\u00a0occasions, no less--one of his paintings at the Cleveland Museum of Art. \u00a0For some reason, I never connected that Gaertner with my Gaertner discovered at the Bonfoey\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Furnace by Gaertner ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gaertner-cai.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":307,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/11\/robert-smith\/","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":3},"title":"Robert Smith","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"November 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Robert Smith was an American artist who died in 1985.\u00a0 When I knew him, he already was an elderly man.\u00a0 He lived with his teenage son in Kettering, Ohio in a French chateau-type building that seemed the height of romance to a high school kid, which was what I was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art Museums"","block_context":{"text":"Art Museums","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/art-museum\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"robert_smith","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/robert_smith.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":832,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2013\/01\/carl-gaertner\/","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":4},"title":"Carl Gaertner","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"January 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Yesterday was a lucky day--I discovered an artist new to me: Carl Gaertner\u00a0(1898-1952). \u00a0Gaertner's reputation is almost entirely local \u00a0to Cleveland, as \u00a0Robert Smith's is confined to\u00a0Dayton. Gaertner was born in Cleveland and lived in and around there until his death. \u00a0He taught for many years at the Cleveland Institute\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Artists"","block_context":{"text":"Artists","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/artists\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Gaertner: oil","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/gaertner-winter.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":536,"url":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/2012\/12\/mother-nursing-infant\/","url_meta":{"origin":320,"position":5},"title":"Painting: Mother Nursing Infant","author":"Tom Hudson","date":"December 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an older painting from the gallery. Working on a painting, I get it to a certain point then put it aside.\u00a0 I rarely finish a painting, even a small one, in a single sitting.\u00a0 The task is to remain objective without becoming over critical of oneself, which can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bio"","block_context":{"text":"Bio","link":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/category\/bio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Gw6F-5a","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thomasparkerhudson.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}