One of the most beloved—and most famous—paintings in the Toledo Museum of Art’s collection, The Architect’s Dream by Thomas Cole is a highlight in the history of nineteenth-century American art.
Did you know? Architect Ithiel Town expected a painting of a view of Athens from Thomas Cole, not this architectural fantasy featuring historic styles that Town himself had used in his designs. Town consequently rejected the painting, and it remained in Cole’s family, unsold and still inscribed to “I. Town,” until it was acquired by the Toledo Museum of Art in 1949.
You can explore more about the painting with TMA’s Google Arts & Culture story.
A more recent fan favorite, Katsuyo Aoki’s intricate, large-scale blue-and-white porcelain work reveals more the longer you look at it. What do you see?
Did you know? The title of this work combines “trolldom” (the realm of trolls) and the nonsense phrase Teku maku maya kon, which is an enchantment spoken by a girl with a magic mirror in the Japanese anime series The Secret of Akko-chan. The phrase allows her to transform into anything.
Image 1: Thomas Cole (American, 1801–1848), The Architect’s Dream. Oil on canvas, 1840. 53 × 84 1/16 in. (134.6 × 213.5 cm). Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 1949.162. On view in Gallery 33 until December 15.
Image 2: Katsuyo Aoki (Japanese, born 1972), Trolldom Teku Maku Maya Kon. Glazed porcelain with cobalt underglaze, 2017–18. 140 × 86 × 9 in. (355.6 × 218.4 × 22.9 cm). Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 2019.83. On view in Gallery 23 until December 15.
Image 1 Description: The composition of this oil painting is framed by ornate curtains, drawn back as if revealing a stage. In the left foreground, a Gothic church with a tall spire emerges from a dark forest. Right of center, atop a monumental stone column inscribed with the artist’s and patron’s names, a figure reclines on oversized architectural books. In the middle ground, a large body of water is populated with small boats. On the far shore, receding diagonally into the distance, is a series of ancient structures including a Greek temple, a Roman aqueduct, and an Egyptian temple and towering pyramid.
Image 2 Description: A wall-mounted porcelain in the shape of large, framed medallion. The medallion is hand-painted with blue and white underglaze comprised of dense ornament that includes birds, butterflies and moths, plants and flowers, and a decorative skull shape. The ornate white frame around the medallion is also made of porcelain, with a spire-like ornament at the center top.
