Exhibitions
Explore What's On View and Coming Soon
Visit the museum again and again to experience changing exhibitions.
Mystery & Benevolence: Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art
February 1–May 11, 2025 | Fifth Third Gallery
Through compelling and cryptic works of art, Mystery & Benevolence brings to light the histories, symbolism, and beliefs of the Freemasons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF)—two fraternal organizations with deep roots in American history.
J. M. W. Turner: Watercolor Horizons
March 1–June 15, 2025 | Sinton Gallery
Happy Birthday, Mr. Turner! Celebrate the 250th anniversary of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s birth by viewing twelve of his watercolors from the Taft Museum of Art and the Cincinnati Art Museum.
The Crafted World of Wharton Esherick
June 7–September 7, 2025 | Fifth Third Gallery
The Crafted World presents the innovative work of Wharton Esherick (1887–1970), the famed American artist best known as the father of the Studio Furniture Movement. Between 1926 and 1966, Esherick built his hillside home and studio in southeastern Pennsylvania. Now the Wharton Esherick Museum (WEM), it houses a treasury of work from seven decades of artistic practice. To share Esherick’s creative vision with contemporary audiences, The Crafted World draws on WEM’s rich and rarely loaned collection of over 3,000 works of art.
A New Look at the Longworths
June 28–November 2, 2025 | Sinton Gallery
A New Look at the Longworths unveils three recent gifts to the Taft Museum of Art: portraits of Nicholas and Susan Longworth—who lived in the Taft historic house for more than three decades beginning in 1830—and Nicholas’s sister, Catherine. The exhibition traces the paintings’ history within the family, highlights their conservation, and follows the quest to identify the artist who made them.
Indigo and the Art of Quiltmaking
October 4, 2025–January 11, 2026 | Fifth Third Gallery
Explore the world’s fascination with the color blue. This exhibition presents twenty quilts created between the early 1800s and 2015 of fabric in shades from pale sky to inky midnight. These dreamy blue hues come from indigo, a pigment made from plants in the genus Indigofera. The quilts on view showcase a range of indigo dyeing techniques as well as the artistry of the women who made them. Indigo and the Art of Quiltmaking is organized by the International Quilt Museum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Teatime: Chinese Enamels from the Taft Collection
November 15, 2025–March 22, 2026 | Sinton Gallery
Celebrate the art and culture of tea. This show will explore the craze for tea in Europe and America in the 1700s, and it will feature a variety of colorful enamel vessels used to serve and drink this beloved beverage.
Rediscover the Taft's Past Exhibitions
Explore past exhibitions from the Taft Museum of Art.