Dayton Art Institute - Dayton

Founded in 1919, the Dayton Art Institute is one of the region’s premier fine art museums, known for its impressive collections of art, world-class traveling exhibitions and educational programming that includes a selection of offerings for diverse audiences.

The museum, originally known as The Dayton Museum of Arts, began as an art school with a small collection of art, located at the corner of Monument Avenue and St. Clair Street in downtown Dayton. During its first decade, the museum grew rapidly. In 1927, the name was changed to the Dayton Art Institute to reflect the increasing importance of the art school and in 1928, through the generosity of benefactor Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell, who pledged $2 million, and many others in the community, construction of a new home for the museum began.

Now, The Dayton Art Institute sits atop a hill on the edge of the Great Miami River, overlooking downtown Dayton. The beautiful museum building was designed by renowned museum architect Edward B. Green, in the vision of Julia’s favorite place–Italy, taking inspiration from two Italian Renaissance palazzos: the Villa d’Este near Rome and the Villa Farnese at Caprarola.

The new Dayton Art Institute opened to the public on a snowy day on January 7, 1930. A gift from Julia to the community, she is quoted saying “I feel as if I were giving you one of my children. Treat it kindly. I want this to be a friendly place. I want you to come again and again.”

Museum guests were greeted with spacious galleries, a glorious Great Hall and two open-air cloisters. Thousands sought respite from the difficult economic times of the Great Depression at the museum, which offered lovely galleries with approximately 200 objects in the collection, musical programs, classes, social events and even a collection of birds and animals. Julia Shaw Patterson Carnell had given the community a gift she would refer to as “Dayton’s Living Room.”

Today, the building, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, still houses the Dayton Art Institute. The museum’s collection, which spans 5,000 years of art history, including African, American, Ancient Americas, Antiquities, Asian, Contemporary, European, Glass, Photography, Textiles and Works on Paper, has grown to more than 27,000 objects. The museum is committed to collecting works that can add to its collection, especially those by underrepresented artists, particularly works by minorities and women.