{"id":627649,"date":"2026-10-11T21:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T21:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627649\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T21:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T21:06:13","slug":"once-future-toledo-museum-reflected-in-tma-forever-exhibit-bg-independent-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/627649\/","title":{"rendered":"Once & future Toledo Museum reflected in TMA Forever exhibit \u2013 BG Independent News"},"content":{"rendered":"

By DAVID DUPONT<\/p>\n

BG Independent News<\/p>\n

Not long ago, we were at a fish store in Portland, and the topic of museums came up. Maybe I had a Portland Museum of Art sweatshirt on. Regardless, the clerk said she loved visiting art museums. I replied as I always do in such situations with a hearty endorsement of the Toledo Museum of Art. If you ever find yourself in Toledo, go to the TMA. Or make it the reason for a trip . After all, it\u2019s also a day trip from Toledo to the museums in Cleveland and Detroit.<\/p>\n

Well, such advice currently has a major caveat attached. The museum\u2019s main structure, the Green Building (so-named for its architect E.B. Green), is closed for a complete reinstallation, the first in 40 some years. So maybe that trip should wait until November, 2027, when the new vision for the museum will be unveiled. In the meantime, construction crews and museum staff are busy inside bring this new vision to life. Click for more information.<\/a><\/p>\n

For a beloved institution such as the Toledo Museum that causes a certain amount of anxiety including a restiveness among those who long loved the museum and are concerned\u00a0 about what this reinstallationmeans for this cherished landmark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Edgar Degas\u2019 \u2018Study for Little Dancer Aged Fourteen\u2019<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the museum\u2019s Glass Pavilion is open, and through Jan. 3, it is housing the exhibit TMA Forever. The exhibit seeks to address some of that trepidation.\u00a0TMA Forever features about 40\u00a0 popular works representing the range of the museum\u2019s collecting interests, acquired throughout its history. <\/p>\n

On a recent trip back to Northwest Ohio, I spoke with the show\u2019s curator Anna Marley,\u00a0 the museum\u2019s director of curatorial affairs, during a press preview.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe concept\u00a0 of the show is that everybody in Toledo has a TMA memory,\u201d Marley said. \u201cIt could be when you took classes here as a child or you have a\u00a0 favorite artwork that you want to show friends and family who are visiting from out of town.\u201d<\/p>\n

She continued,\u00a0 \u201cso I worked with our team to find some of those favorite works of art and put them together in this exhibition for people to enjoy while we\u2019re renovating the Green Building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Anna Marley, TMA\u2019s director of curatorial affairs, poses in front of \u201cWhat Sin Is Purged Here in the Circle Where We Are Standing?\u201d by Tammy Nguyen.<\/p>\n

That approach is evident on entering the gallery in the Glass Pavilion. Visitors are greeted by two of the museum\u2019s signature works \u2014 Thomas Cole\u2019s \u201cThe Architect\u2019s Dream\u201d and James Tissot\u2019s \u201cLondon Visitors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are two pieces that we know are incredibly beloved by our community,\u201d Marley said.<\/p>\n

The Cole painting, Marley noted, is the most reproduced painting in the museum\u2019s collection. The exhibit traces when pieces entered the collection. \u201cThe show actually starts with works acquired in the most important time of collection,\u201d she said. The Cole was purchased in 1949 and the Tissot was purchased in the 1950s. <\/p>\n

These and other works were purchased with funds from the Libby Endowment. The Libbeys themselves donated glass and ancient Egyptian antiquities. The Secors, another founding family, donated Gustav Dore\u2019s \u201cThe Scottish Highlands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another \u201cLibbey\u201d donation was given by the Libbey Glass company \u2014 the beloved Libbey Glass Punch bowl, which came to the museum in 1946.<\/p>\n

\"\"Joan Miro\u2019s \u2018Woman Haunted by the Passage of the Bird-Dragonfly Omen of Bad News\u201d with a graphic using an old photo of the Toledo Museum.<\/p>\n

From the beginning, the museum looked at purchasing new works. TMA Forever includes a painting by Francis Luis Mora of a famous dancer\u00a0 that he completed in 1915, and entered the museum\u2019s collection in 1917.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of that kind of story in this show,\u201d Marley said. Beyond the classics the museum has had \u201ca mission to have contemporary work.\u201d\u00a0 As someone who studied American art, she said, \u201cwhat\u2019s fascinating to me is this museum was really committed to buying America art in the teens and twenties when not everyone was doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the reinstallation is complete, she said, there will be an a gallery devoted to \u201cwhat we were collecting and when.\u201d<\/p>\n

To select the works to be included in Forever TMA, Marley first looked at what works people searched for most on the museum\u2019s website. The most searched term was \u201cVan Gogh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marley reached out to the museum head of interpretation Paula Reich. She\u2019s been with the museum for more than 30 years. In her role she interacts closely with the public. \u00a0 \u201cShe knows what works people love most of all,\u201d Marley said.<\/p>\n

\"\"19th century Santo Domingo Pueblo Pottery with Kay WalkingStick, \u201cSeal Rock Storm\u2019 in the background.<\/p>\n

There were a few limitations. Works that are light sensitive, such as textiles and works on paper, were excluded. Typically they\u2019d be rotated every three months, Marley said. The exhibit will be up for four months, and the museum staff will not have the time with the reinstallation to switch out works.<\/p>\n

Also, a number of works are touring or available to loan.\u00a0The shows of TMA pieces \u2014 \u201cImpressionism to Modernism\u201d and \u201cOld Masters,\u201d each with about 50 pieces, are currently touring. Another 10 are with Art Bridges that facilitates loans within the United States.<\/p>\n

This is a small slice of the museum\u2019s collection of 25,000 items, the curator said.<\/p>\n

Marley said she had \u201can embarrassment of riches\u201d to choose from. She wanted a diversity covering the variety of art from different periods and representing art acquired by the museum at different times.<\/p>\n

Van Gogh is represented by \u201cHouses at Auvers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marley said she had a chance to have some \u201cfun\u201d with the display of the piece.<\/p>\n

One of the oldest pieces in the exhibit, a funerary wreath of oak leaves, is about 2,500 years old. It\u2019s placed so that in the background is \u201cWhat Sin Is Purged Here in the Circle Where We Are Standing?\u201d by Vietnamese American artist Tammy Nguyen, painted in 2023 and purchased with funds from the Libby Endowment in 2024. The painting evokes classical mythology as well as current pop culture. Godzilla looms over what seems a dystopian landscape.<\/p>\n

Another juxtaposition has Arthur Hughes\u2019 \u201cOphelia (\u2018And He Will Not Come Back Again\u2019),\u201d an example of the Pre-Raphaelite style, next to \u201cSaint George and the Dragon,\u201d which was painted 500 years before in a French workshop.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 19th century Pre-Raphaelites evoked art from before the Renaissance. They longed to go back to a less industrialized time. \u201cSaint George and the Dragon,\u201d Marley said \u201cis exactly the kind of painting the Pre-Raphaelite were interested in.\u201d The female figures \u2014 Ophelia and the lady in distress in the St. George painting each sport\u00a0similar flowing gowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A different juxtaposition has pieces representing people enjoying leisure time.<\/p>\n

\"\"From left, Robert Garcia\u2019s National Waterfall Drive-In Theater, Wayne Thiebaud\u2019s \u2018Roast Beef Dinner (Trucker\u2019s Supper),\u2019 and \u201dEmily Brock\u2019s \u201cDeli.\u2019<\/p>\n

It features a classic still life with a lobster, and\u00a0 Edward Hopper\u2019s theater scene \u201cTwo on the Aisle,\u201d\u00a0 with three contemporary works \u2014 Emily Brock\u2019s glass and metal \u201cDeli,\u201d Wayne Thiebaud\u2019s painting \u201cRoast Beef Dinner (Trucker\u2019s Supper),\u201d and Toledoan Robert Garcia\u2019s painted porcelain sculpture, \u201cNational Waterfall Drive-In Theater,\u201d with the Lone Ranger and Tonto bursting out of the screen.<\/p>\n

The end caps of the walls in the display carry on this theme, showing people in historic photos enjoying their time at the museum. A reminder of why the TMA is worth the trip whether it\u2019s a couple blocks or hundreds of miles.<\/p>\n

\"\"Consruction equipment outside the Toledo Museum\u2019s Green Building . The museum is under going a complete reinstallation of ts collections.
\n\"More<\/a>Posted by: David Dupont<\/a> on October 11, 2026. \t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By DAVID DUPONT BG Independent News Not long ago, we were at a fish store in Portland, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627650,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-627649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627649"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627649\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}