The Southern Ohio Museum, housed in a converted 1918 bank building on Gallia Street, is the only serious art museum in the area. Its core holding is a large collection of works by Clarence Holbrook Carter, a Portsmouth native and important American regionalist painter, donated by the artist's estate.
Rotating exhibitions of contemporary regional art share the second floor, and the original bank's marble lobby is worth seeing in its own right. Entry is free; closed Sundays and Mondays.