The OLNEY ART GALLERY was a privately owned and operated art gallery on Jennings Ave. (W. 14th St.). It was established in 1893 by Prof. Chas. Fayette Olney and his wife, Abigail who were convinced that Cleveland needed an art gallery.
Objects from the Olneys' private collection were the basis of the gallery. Items from the collection were displayed, along with works from other prominent Cleveland citizens, including William J. White and CHAS. F. BRUSH, were loaned for display at the city's first ART LOAN EXHIBITION in 1893. The gallery operated out of a long, narrow brick-and-stone building that housed over 200 objects, including oil and watercolor paintings, porcelains, and statuary. In 1896 the gallery was one of several in the U.S. that displayed Hungarian artist Michel Leib Munkacsy's Christ before Pilate. The gallery closed in 1907, 4 years after Olney died; the bulk of the collection was left to Oberlin College.
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