What is thought to be the world’s largest collection of almost 3,000 lithophane engravings, housed in a museum at Toledo Botanical Garden for the last 17 years, is in need of a new home.
The City of Toledo is in the process of transferring ownership of a 1,500-square-foot building to Toledo Area Metroparks, which took over the gardens in 2018. Housed inside is the Blair Museum of Lithophanes, a collection of the 19th-century pieces donated to the city in 1993 by local collector Laurel Blair shortly before his death.
The Metroparks took over ownership of the gardens in early 2018, but the building that houses the museum was still owned by the city. Per a real estate donation agreement signed by both city and Metroparks officials Sept. 17, the city is allowed to house the collection in its current location until September 2020.
“When we agreed to take over ownership and operation of Toledo Botanical Garden, we promised the city we would preserve the horticultural heritage there, and look for ways to enhance the experience,” said Metroparks spokesman Scott Carpenter. “We would like to find opportunities for that building that would engage more visitors.”
Lithophane is a European decorative art form dating to the early- and mid-19th century in which images are carved into wax on thin porcelain. When the porcelain is backlit, the lights and darks in the carving are seen in detail and give it a three-dimensional look.
Blair, who fell in love with the unique art form, amassed the collection over a period of years and founded the museum in 1965, opening it to the public in his Old West End home.
He feared for the collection’s future as he grew older, and in 1993, the city agreed to take over ownership. The Blair Museum of Lithophanes opened at its current venue within the Artists’ Village at the gardens in 2002. It is overseen by a non-profit board, Friends of the Blair Museum, made up of volunteers who serve as docents and offer educational tours of the collection.
Julia LaBay Darrah, the museum’s curator and director, said they have been working with the city to find an alternate location in the area. The hope, she said, is that the collection stays in the city where it was founded, but that Friends of the Blair Museum members also want to ensure its security as well.
“[Laurel] traveled the world collecting these lithophanes, and we really want to keep it here. That’s our goal. It’s a part of Toledo’s history,” she said. “This is such a unique and extensive collection. We have pieces that are one of a kind, that are rare, that no one else has, and to see it go somewhere else is kind of a shame, but we need it to be somewhere that it's going to be appreciated and funded.”
LaBay Darrah said a lot of work was put into renovating the building for the museum, which she said draws many tourists and vacationers from around the world. It is less frequented by locals, she said, but those who come to see the collection are usually surprised by the find.
When asked to provide a monetary value for the collection, she said there was no recorded value but that the “one-of-a-kind pieces we have on display makes the collection priceless.” The collection includes pieces not only made in the traditional plaque shape, but made for lamp shades, fireplace and table screens, lanterns, nightlights and food and tea warmers. Lithophanes also were sometimes etched into the bottom of steins.
Paul Syring, general counsel in the city’s law department, said that the 1993 agreement with Blair before his death authorizes the city to have all or part of the collection on public display at all times. It can transfer the collection to a different location as necessary, but it also can gift the lithophanes to another entity willing to accept it, he said. The city is not allowed to sell the collection.
“We are entrusted with the collection, and I think we have a contractual obligation, and almost a civic obligation to continue to display it, and if we can’t display it, find a successor [who can],” Syring said.
The city spends about $5,000 annually to insure the collection, and about $2,000 a year for utilities, said Gretchen DeBacker, legislative director for the city. The museum used the building rent-free when it was maintained by the city, she said.
The city does have a few leads they are pursuing, DeBacker said. The Toledo Museum of Art declined to take the collection.
“The Toledo Museum of Art’s collection strategy is to collect singular masterworks as opposed to an entire collection of work. While the lithophanes are certainly interesting objects of historical and cultural value, these do not fit within the museum’s collecting criteria or within the scope of the TMA collection,” said TMA spokesman Stephanie Elton.
One of the issues for the Metroparks is that the museum is only open for four hours a day on Saturdays and Sundays, May through October, Carpenter said. The museum closed last weekend, as it does every year.
The museum could potentially reopen in the spring, per the Sept. 17, 2020, date in the agreement, but LaBay Darrah said she wasn’t sure if that would be feasible, depending on where the collection goes.
“If we do have to move and pack everything up, we have almost 3,000 pieces in the collection that have to be sorted and packed properly … so I’m not sure about opening in the spring,” she said.
Carpenter said Metroparks officials have discussed using the vacant building for a retail or welcome center for the gardens, although there has not been a definitive decision on its future purpose.
“Blair is a wonderful collection … but it’s still a static museum that occupies a premiere building that’s open for a few hours a month, for half the year,” Carpenter said.
First Published November 2, 2019, 2:30 p.m.
