Former Cleveland Museum of Art curator Tom Hinson, who retired in December 2010, was honored with a Cleveland Arts Prize at a Gartner Auditorium ceremony on June 28. Hinson spent 38 years in the museum’s modern and contemporary art and photography departments.
A Case Western Reserve University graduate, Hinson arrived at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1973 to work in the field of contemporary art. As a curator of contemporary art for over 20 years, Hinson’s passion for photography quickly became evident through the museum’s growing collection of photo prints: what began as a 44-piece collection soon grew to more than 3,000 prints. Photography became an independent curatorial department in 1996, and naturally, Hinson assumed its leadership position. Tom Hinson received the Martha Joseph Prize for Distinguished Service to the Arts (a part of the Cleveland Arts Prize), which celebrates his contribution to Cleveland’s art community through teaching, arts advocacy, and program implementation. The museum’s robust photography department now features artists like Ansel Adams, Edward S. Curtis, and many of the medium’s earliest pioneers. The collection also boasts Cleveland-specific subject matter by local and international photographers. Hinson’s current show, Contemporary Landscape Photography, will be on view in the East Wing until August 14.