(by Meredith Moss, Dayton Daily News, March 30, 2025)
It’s not your usual art exhibition. It’s kinda strange, kinda mysterious, definitely fascinating.
The 80 items currently on display at the Taft Museum of Art in Cincinnati pull back the curtain on two major organizations that are often clouded in mystery: the Freemasons and Odd Fellows.
“Mystery & Benevolence” is a collection of objects used for decades by the two organizations in their ritualized, often secret, practices. On display are scythes and skulls, costumes and banners, decorative furnishings. The exhibit will be on display through May 11.
“In the nearly 10 years since ‘Mystery and Benevolence’ first debuted at the American Folk Art Museum, this exhibition continues to enthrall viewers with the enigmatic symbols and rich imagery that gave many of these fraternal societies an intriguing shroud of mystery,” said Emelie Gevalt, the New York museum’s Deputy Director and Chief Curatorial and Program Officer. “The astounding art and objects in this exhibition are a testament to the self-taught artists and artisans whose vast contributions to early American material culture helped ingrain these societies into popular culture for generations.”
At first glance symbols like the skull and crossbones may be shocking and off-putting. But you’ll soon learn they were part of an initiation ritual designed to…
read more:
“In the nearly 10 years since ‘Mystery and Benevolence’ first debuted at the American Folk Art Museum, this exhibition continues to enthrall viewers with the enigmatic symbols and rich imagery that gave many of these fraternal societies an intriguing shroud of mystery,” said Emelie Gevalt, the New York museum’s Deputy Director and Chief Curatorial and Program Officer. “The astounding art and objects in this exhibition are a testament to the self-taught artists and artisans whose vast contributions to early American material culture helped ingrain these societies into popular culture for generations.”
At first glance symbols like the skull and crossbones may be shocking and off-putting. But you’ll soon learn they were part of an initiation ritual designed to…
read more:
