University of Cincinnati Art Collection

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University of Cincinnati Art Collection

The University of Cincinnati Art Collection, with over 5000 works, reflect the diverse origins and affiliations which have shaped the University.

It provides a unique window onto the development of the visual arts in Cincinnati, the nation and the world. Many artists featured in the Collection were active in Cincinnati for at least a portion of their careers, many with a direct connection to the University as either student or teacher. We are fortunate to hold the work of these artists in significant depth. Perhaps the most well-known Cincinnati artist, Elizabeth Nourse, is represented in the Collection by 32 works of art that include oils, watercolors, and pastels. Other Cincinnati artists represented in the Collection include, Lewis Henry Meakin (24 works), Frank Harmon Myers (11 works), Herman Henry Wessel (8 works), Louis Charles Vogt (25 works), and John Ellsworth Weis (20 works). Thus, the Collection exists as an important record of the artistic heritage of Cincinnati. As a major center of artistic activity in nineteenth-century America, Cincinnati's cultural tradition is an important aspect of the heritage of our nation as a whole.

10/05/2026

"Sondern Erlöse uns von dem Übel" by Max Pechstein in 1921 is part of 12 print portfolio illustrating a verse in the Lord's Prayer. Pechstein created the portfolio in the midst of personal and social upheaval, and the prayer played a huge role in postwar German society which was saddled with civil unrest and political violence.
This translation from Martin Luther's Small Catechism emphasizes the power of individual prayer, and though the sene is distressing, the mourning figures are not alone or powerless in their loss.

09/29/2026

Edith Carson Wilder was a real estate mogul, mother and wife who in her last will and testament established the Stephen H. Wilder Foundation for "traveling scholarships and deserving students". This fund is for basic science research, public affairs research, scholarships in art and music, and summer opera in Cincinnati.

This portrait of her was painted by Frank Herman Meyers in 1943. Meyers moved to Cincinnati in 1907 and studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He was a American impressionist and teacher at the Art Academy where he received many commissions for portraits, including this one.

We thank Edith Wilder for her support of the arts and research, knowing how many lives her foundation has touched.

09/22/2026

🎨Weekley Collection Highlight: Louis Charles Vogt

This week, we’re featuring C&O Bridge (c. 1925) by Cincinnati artist Louis Charles Vogt (1864–1939).

Vogt was known for capturing Cincinnati’s growth and industrial development through energetic brushwork and warm colors. C&O Bridge highlights the activity of a Cincinnati construction site, bringing together workers, machinery, and the changing city landscape.

Vogt’s work reflects an important period in Cincinnati’s history and gives us a glimpse into the city as it was being built and transformed.

📍 C&O Bridge, c. 1925
🎨 Oil on canvas
📐 24 × 30 inches
University of Cincinnati Art Collection

09/16/2026

UC DAAP professor Christopher Platts worked with the UC Art Collection, Geology, Chemistry, Materials Science, Preservation in 2022 to give students a hands on experience in the art history course. In the featured photos Platts and students are in DAAP Galleries' Reed Gallery examining artworks in person. Here they learned about the professions of curator, collections manager, conservator, preparator, etc, how to approach “unknown” artworks, and reflect how to share artworks while preserving them.

09/15/2026

We're excited to announce a wonderful new addition to the UC Cincinnati Art Collection! A recent generous donation from Altfiber has brought a fresh batch of incredible artworks from the Cincinnati Bell Art Collection to our institution. Stay tuned for updates on these exciting new pieces!

08/26/2026

Thanks to the Ohio Arts Council and their Percent for Art program artworks like Anatomy Vessel by Eric Nordgulen decorate our UC campuses. This 27 1/2 foot tall sculpture is on the Blue Ash campus lawn between Muntz and Walters Hall.

08/18/2026

Hanging in the Oesper Apparatus Museum are two
rather large oil paintings of several of the original
alchemical displays in the Deutsches Museum in Munich done by the German painter and illustrator Ernst
Dorn, of whom little is known other than that he was
born in Neustadt/Colburg in 1889 and died in Munich
in 1927 at the relatively young age of 38"

Text: by William B. Jensen, Department of Chemistry, UC
Image: Ernst Dorn "Alchemical Laboratory II", oil on canvas, 1925

08/11/2026

Happy Daughter and Son Day!
"Family" edition 5/30 by Evelyn Marx
Marx studied design, printmaking and painting at the University of Cincinnati in the 1920s and remained a fixture in the area until she retired to Sarasota, Florida in 1963. She began her career as a designer of murals, table linens and theatrical costumes but became known for her prints and her poetry.

08/05/2026

Pointedness by Yoko Ono is part of the Carl Solway Gallery Archive in the UC Art Collection.

07/28/2026

(Ernest) Bruce Nelson was from Santa Clara, California and began studying engineering and architecture at Stanford University before switching to the art department. After traveling to London & Paris, he graduated with a degree in graphic arts from Stanford in 1913. He established a studio in Pacific Grove, where he began painting views of the shoreline. In 1914 he sent a collection of paintings to Merrick-Reynolds, an early Los Angeles gallery. The spring exhibition received an enthusiastic response in the pages of the Los Angeles Times where critic Antony Anderson wrote poetically about his work. Nelson’s early paintings were considered very progressive. “His work is big and broad, breathing the freedom of the open country,” critic Laura Bride Powers said, “His conceptions are clear and his stroke sure. He is, if we must so classify him, a modernist.” He was a very successful living artist for many years but was called to the Army in WWI. After the war he moved to NYC and set up a studio on 86th st. During the Great Depression, when art sales were scarce, Nelson joined the massive WPA Art Project, and he seems to have remained with it until it ended in 1943 due to World War II. Nelson's works are in the Crocker Art Museum, Fenimore Art Museum, and other collections.

Address

2624 Clifton Avenue
Cincinnati, OH
45221

Website

http://artcollection.uc.edu/

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