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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 featherwork 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 before been exhibited.

Treasures of the Spanish World offers audiences an unprecedented survey of some of the great artistic traditions of Europe and the Americas. Peter Jonathan Bell, the Cincinnati Art Museum’s Associate Curator of European Paintings, Sculpture and Drawings, is curating the exhibition in Cincinnati.

“We aim not only to present exhibition visitors with artworks of the highest caliber and significance that sketch the outlines of some of the globe’s most vital artistic cultures, but also to bring these treasures and their stories to new audiences,” Bell said. The Cincinnati Art Museum will present all exhibition texts in English and Spanish.

The exhibition first appeared at the Museo Nacional del Prado in Madrid, Spain, where it received wide international acclaim in 2017. It also traveled to the Museo del Palacio de Bella Artes in Mexico City and the Albuquerque Museum in New Mexico. After its presentation at the Cincinnati Art Museum, the exhibition will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas.

The exhibition is accompanied by a lavishly-illustrated scholarly catalogue, Treasures from the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, edited by Mitchell A. Codding, Executive Director and President of the Hispanic Society.

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. Photography is permitted, but no flash. On social media, use the hashtag #CAMTreasures.

This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. It is presented by Western & Southern Financial Group and Fort Washington Investment Advisors. Treasures of the Spanish World will be on view in the Western & Southern Galleries (232 and 233) and The Thomas R. Schiff Galleries (234 and 235). A satellite gift shop will be available in The Albert E. Heekin and Bertha E. Heekin Gallery (212).

About the Hispanic Society Museum & Library

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library was founded in 1904 by Archer Milton Huntington (1870–1955) with the purpose of establishing a free, public museum and reference library for the study of the art, history and culture of Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and the Philippines. The collections of the Hispanic Society are the most extensive outside of Spain itself, addressing nearly every aspect of Spanish culture, as well as a large part of Portugal and Latin America, into the twentieth century. The Hispanic Society Museum is located in Manhattan and is currently undergoing extensive renovation, although the Library remains open by appointment and the Sorolla Gallery is open to visitors on a limited basis by advance reservation. hispanicsociety.org

About the Cincinnati Art Museum

The Cincinnati Art Museum is supported by the generosity of individuals and businesses that give annually to ArtsWave. The Ohio Arts Council helps fund the Cincinnati Art Museum with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans. The Cincinnati Art Museum gratefully acknowledges operating support from the City of Cincinnati, as well as our members.

Free general admission to the Cincinnati Art Museum is made possible by a gift from the Rosenthal Family Foundation. Special exhibition pricing may vary. Parking at the Cincinnati Art Museum is free. The museum is open Tuesday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and Thursday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m. cincinnatiartmusem.org

Image credit: Francisco de Goya (1746–1828), The Duchess of Alba, 1797, oil on canvas, Courtesy of The Hispanic Society of America, New York, A102.

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