Join us as we look back on our noteworthy milestones and accomplishments of the past year.

JANUARY

We kick off the new year with a bang! Our January Art After Dark: Once Upon a Time in Bollywood event draws nearly 2,000 visitors on the last Friday of the month. The festive evening, presented in partnership with Asianati, celebrates the Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in Art exhibition with music, traditional dance performances, food, and drinks from local vendors.

FEBRUARY

Georgia O’Keeffe, Photographer opens, welcoming over 20,000 visitors during its three-month run. The exhibition presents nearly 100 photographs by the artist, together with a complementary selection of her paintings and drawings. Wall Street Journal, among others, features the exhibition.

MARCH

The museum announces the acquisition of The Two Sisters, a monumental double portrait made in 2012 by Kehinde Wiley (American, b. 1977), thanks to a generous gift from the Ragland family, longtime supporters of CAM. Measuring almost nine feet tall, The Two Sisters is part of Wiley’s series of paintings, An Economy of Grace.

We also welcome artist, educator, and poet Roberto Lugo as an artist in residence, creating pottery in front of visitors next to the display of his finished works in Roberto Lugo: Hi-Def Archives. The seven-month solo exhibition runs through September 24.

APRIL

We join forces with other local organizations across the Tri-State area to help raise funds for ArtsWave’s annual community campaign, raising $11,830,354 for the region’s arts.

MAY

Richard “Dick” Rosenthal is honored with the 2023 Cincinnati Art Award in recognition of his family’s contributions to the arts in Cincinnati and beyond. He receives the award at our annual Director’s Circle Dinner on May 12.

Of note, 2023 marks the 20th anniversary of a generous gift from the Rosenthal Family Foundation that permanently provided free, daily general admission to all visitors.

As if May couldn’t get any better, we also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Cincinnati Wing—the first permanent display in the country dedicated to a city’s art history.

JUNE

The landmark exhibition Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds—the first to explore the artist’s prolific engagement with landscape over a 75-year career—arrives in Cincinnati. We offer free admission to (the sold-out) opening weekend and free access every Thursday evening thanks to presenting sponsor Duke Energy.

Picasso Landscapes: Out of Bounds is part of the Picasso Celebration 1973–2023, linking more than 50 exhibitions and events at renowned cultural institutions across Europe and North America to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the artist’s death.

Another innovative exhibition—Creating Connections: Self-Taught Artists in the Rosenthal Collection—opens. Drawn from the collection of Richard Rosenthal and his family, the show celebrates a remarkable promised gift of selected works to the museum. The exhibition is also accompanied by a display of works from Cincinnati’s Visionaries + Voices.

JULY

We expand our renowned decorative arts collection with the acquisition of two teapots featuring portraits of iconic Cincinnatians (Annie Ruth, Robert O’Neal, Bootsy Collins, and Kathryne Gardette) created by 2023 Artist in Residence Roberto Lugo. Lugo created the teapots leading up to his solo exhibition. They join another work by Lugo in our collection, Rookwood in Hi-Def, a four-feet-tall ceramic vase that portrays Cincinnati-born hip hop artist Hi-Tek on one side and a depiction of downtown Cincinnati on the other.

AUGUST

The museum announces the upcoming renovation of our ground level made possible by A New View campaign, which surpassed its $65 million fundraising goal in 2022. Investments will strengthen our impact on school groups and add new spaces for research and community events.

SEPTEMBER

After a comprehensive conservation treatment, our Jain Shrine—or ghar derasar consisting of two freestanding columns supporting a carved canopy—is on view in the Anu and Shekhar Mitra Gallery of South Asian Art (Gallery 143).

The Donald P. Sowell Endowment Committee celebrates their 30th anniversary with a panel discussion with Gee Horton, Ellen Jean Price, Kevin Harris, and Carolyn Mazloomi—four artists featured in the Ohio Voices special feature which opened in August. 

OCTOBER

We announce two remarkable demonstrations of philanthropy for the arts in our region:

Longtime supporters Carol and William “Bill” Eckerle leave an $18 million legacy gift with bequests of $6 million each that will support the endowments of CAM, Cincinnati Museum Center, and the Taft Museum of Art.

Art Bridges Foundation grants the museum more than $1,200,00 to help serve new visitors and community members across Greater Cincinnati over the next three years. In addition, the Access for All grant will fund our extended Thursday hours from 5–8 p.m. and support marketing efforts for the institution.

NOVEMBER

We’ll Always Have Paris! Our gala—themed around the city of lights—returns to the museum. The sold-out event exceeds our goals and is a charming night for all.

Two exhibitions celebrating Black artists—Charles White: A Little Higher and Black & Brown Faces: VERIFIED—open in November. White is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential African American artists of the twentieth century, and the exhibition features 50 of his drawings, prints, and paintings selected from the Primas Family Collection.

VERIFIED is the third installment of the Black & Brown Faces series created by Paloozanoire in partnership with the museum. This year’s exhibition presents the work of 15 accomplished artists of color from across the Midwest, showcasing their unique perspectives on the immense influence of Black & Brown culture.

Charles White: A Little Higher is made possible by the Primas Family Collection.

DECEMBER

Clearly Indigenous: Native Visions Reimagined in Glass opens. The exhibition celebrates the achievements of 33 contemporary Native American and Indigenous Pacific-Rim artists at the center of today’s global studio glass movement and features more than 100 works demonstrating the power of melding Indigenous Traditions, cultural knowledge, and contemporary experiences with the aesthetics and properties unique to the medium of glass.

Additional 2022–2023 Exhibitions & Special Features

Natural World

September 30, 2022–January 15, 2023

Galloping Through Dynasties

October 7, 2022–January 1, 2023

Contemporary Japanese Ceramics

January 14, 2023–January 7, 2024

Modern and Contemporary Ceramics

March 4, 2023–June 30, 2024

A Celebration of Japanese Fashion

March 28–July 9, 2023

Looking at Animals: Photographs from the Collection

April 11–August 10, 2023

More milestones by the numbers

Our Learning & Interpretation team welcomed 60,892 visitors to 759 programs and tours. This figure includes the annual attendance in the Rosenthal Education Center (REC).

The Florence Koetters Cincinnati Public School (CPS) Fourth Grade Program welcomed 442 students onsite in 18 programs.

We received 92 docent applications, interviewed 60 potential candidates, and selected 35 people for the new class. The addition of this class will increase our overall docent corps by more than 50 percent.

Our Summer Art Camp had a record-breaking year after selling out all camper spots in under seven minutes! Stay tuned for updates about the 2024 Art Camp.

Art After Dark—our popular after-hours party on the last Friday of the month—welcomed more than 13,000 visitors.

4,312 people visited the Mary R. Schiff Library and Archives. Throughout the year, visitors utilized 5,309 of our resources in the form of books, periodicals, files, online databases, and archival materials.

We hosted 36 weddings throughout the year. Ready to plan your wedding? We are are booking weddings for 2025!

CAM partnered with Blue Ocean Solids to upgrade our water treatment systems. We were able to reduce our carbon footprint, eliminate hazardous chemical drums, and reduce the wear and tear on the mechanical equipment that is critical for the safety of our collections. These facility upgrades save an impressive 10,000 gallons of water a day. Learn more about our sustainability efforts. 

Our achievements would not be possible without you! We sincerely thank you for your support and partnership throughout 2023. We’ll see you in 2024!