CINCINNATI—Treasures of the Spanish World explores the visual cultures of Spain and Latin America across 4,000 years, through some of the finest artworks from the Iberian Peninsula and Spanish America. The exhibition, organized in partnership with the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, will be presented at the Cincinnati Art Museum from October 25, 2019–January 19, 2020.
From Copper Age ceramics, medieval metalwork, Renaissance sculpture and portraits by Velázquez and Goya, to Mexican feather work mosaics, Colombian lacquerware, rare early maps of the Americas and the light-suffused paintings of Sorolla at the turn of the twentieth century, these artworks manifest the richly layered cultures of Spain under Roman, Islamic and Christian rule and the Spanish influence in the Americas.
The Hispanic Society Museum & Library, widely acknowledged to house the greatest collection of Spanish and Latin American art and artifacts outside of Spain, has loaned its artworks for this traveling special exhibition while its 1908 Beaux Arts building in New York undergoes renovations. The Cincinnati Art Museum has the unique chance to exhibit the Hispanic Society’s finest examples of paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, manuscripts and documents. A significant number of these works have not before been exhibited outside of the Hispanic Society, and some have never been exhibited.
A wide variety of programs for all ages will highlight the exhibition during its run, including a special lecture on Goya by a curator from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library on October 24. Self-guided and docent tours will be available. The exhibition will be free during Art After Dark on October 25 and November 27, 2019.
Tickets for Treasures of the Spanish World are free for museum members and will soon be available for purchase by the general public at the Cincinnati Art Museum front desk and online at cincinnatiartmuseum.org.