Cincinnati Art Museum Launches First Fashion Gallery with $5 Million Gift from Mary W. Baskett
Cincinnati Art Museum receives a $5 million gift from collector Mary W. Baskett to launch its first dedicated fashion gallery, showcasing renowned Japanese designers like Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo, and expanding its textile arts program.
CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Art Museum just landed a game-changing $5 million gift from local collector and art scholar Mary W. Baskett. The donation will fund the museum’s first-ever dedicated curator for fashion arts and textiles — a role that will permanently elevate fashion within the museum’s vast holdings.
Baskett’s prized collection of Japanese fashion icons — including Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo, and Yohji Yamamoto — will be front and center in CAM’s inaugural fashion gallery. The gallery promises rotating exhibitions that highlight this rich collection alongside other global dress, accessories, and fiber arts from CAM’s 15,000-piece archive.
ART News
“It’s been my dream to endow a fashion gallery here,” Baskett said. “Now showcasing these extraordinary designers is finally possible and a priority.”
Cynthia Amnéus, CAM’s current fashion curator, called the gift “transformative,” noting that visitors have long demanded more fashion on display. The endowed curatorship secures that future.
The gift also honors Baskett’s deep roots with CAM — she curated prints there in the 60s and early 70s, building a world-class Japanese print collection and earning recognition from the Japanese government for cultural exchange.
Brad Hawse, CAM’s philanthropy director, said the gift “sets a powerful example” for elevating fashion as a vital cultural force and will inspire future philanthropy.
The museum has yet to announce when the fashion gallery will open, but the impact of this gift will ripple through Cincinnati’s cultural landscape for decades.
ART Walkway News
