Julie Aronson – författare

On May 10, 2003, the Cincinnati Art Museum will celebrate the opening of the Cincinnati Wing: eighteen thousand square feet of handsomely renovated gallery space devoted to the museum's renowned collections of painting, sculpture, furniture, ceramics, and metalwork by Cincinnati artists. The museum is the first in the country to reinterpret its American art collections with a regional emphasis, fostering civic pride and drawing attention to the achievements of the city's artists.In conjunction with the celebration, Ohio University Press is proud to publish The Cincinnati Wing: The Story of Art in the Queen City, showcasing one of America's foremost art centers of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.The authors of this collection trace the thematic arrangement of the Cincinnati Wing galleries, situating the artwork in the context of the city's history as it progressed from a frontier river town to an industrial powerhouse. The Cincinnati Wing provides a vivid picture of the fertile social and cultural climate that produced such prominent figures in the history of American art as sculptor Hiram Powers and painters Robert S. Duncanson, Frank Duveneck, and John H. Twachtman.Cincinnati's contributions to the decorative arts are exemplified by the stunning ceramics of the celebrated Rookwood Pottery Company, the nation's leading art pottery firm, and by the city's lesser-known yet equally significant Aesthetic Movement furniture.One hundred fifty-one color plates highlight the beauty and diversity of the Cincinnati Art Museum's collections and illuminate the Queen City's great artistic legacy.Published in association with the Cincinnati Art Museum

In the Gilded Age, when most sculptors aspired to produce monuxadments, Bessie Potter Vonnoh (1872–1955) made significant contributions to small bronze sculpture and garden statuary designed for the embellishment of the home. Her work commanded admiration for her fluid and suggestive modeling, graceful lines, and sculptural form. In 1904 Bessie Potter Vonnoh won the gold medal for sculpture at the St. Louis World's Fair for bronzes of contemporary American women and children that delighted all who saw them.Although Vonnoh's work is represented today in museums throughout the United States, Bessie Potter Vonnoh: Sculptor of Women provides for the first time an intimate and engaging encounter with one of the most widely respected sculptors of her day.Julie Aronson explores how, by concentrating on sculpture for domestic settings that expertly combined naturalism with elegance, Vonnoh negotiated a male-dominated field to create a pathway to professional success and made high-quality sculpture accessible to a wider audience.In an essay that examines Vonnoh's relationship with her foundries and scrutinizes bronze castings, Janis Conner demystifies baffling issues of authenticity and quality in turn-of-the-century bronzes.This copiously illustrated book, indispensable for all sculpture enthusiasts, accompanies the first exhibition since 1930 dedicated to the art of Bessie Potter Vonnoh.

Creating Connections features over 70 paintings, sculptures, drawings, and watercolours from the Rosenthal Collection of work by self-taught artists. This richly illustrated publication explores the mysterious connections we have with works of art and examines the journey into the meaning of art for its creators. It looks at the historic approaches to the creations of self-taught artists and the problems inherent in their interpretation. It also considers where we should go to achieve a more equitable and inclusive art history.The Rosenthal Collection comprises a significant and notably varied grouping. Not only does it cover a broad mix of American names including Earl Cunningham, Henry Darger, Thornton Dial, Bill Traylor, Sister Gertrude Morgan, Ralph Fasanella, Martin Ramirez, and Janet Sobel, it also includes non-US artists Carlo Zinelli, Hiroyuki Doi, Adolf Woelfli, Donald Pass, and Nek Chand among others. Jean Dubuffet, the French painter who famously promoted their study, is also featured.An illustrated interview by Julie Aronson with Richard Rosenthal provides special insight into the collector who has brought together this exceptionally diverse array of work. Essays by Olivia Sagan and Charles Russell look at the need for a more nuanced approach to these artists and their work, at the history of its appreciation (including terminology such as "Outsider Art"), and examine the work in the context of autobiography, trauma, connection, and remembering.

Harper's iconic depictions of animals have long enjoyed robust appreciation among nature lovers and aficionados of mid-century modern furnishings, which they exquisitely complement. A longtime resident of Cincinnati, Harper developed his "minimal realism", as he referred to his style, in the 1940s and 50s, stripping down nature to its essential characteristics in elegant, engaging, vividly coloured designs that breathe life and personality. Harper was an indefatigable worker who transformed an array of drawings, collages, and paintings into his beloved screen prints, book illustrations and posters. An ardent advocate of wildlife conservation and climate activism, Harper has been the favourite artist of nature organizations across the United States, including the National Park Service and the Audubon Society for whom he designed eye-catching illustrations and posters.Front cover: Charley Harper; Scary Scenario, 2006; color screen print on paper; image 25 × 22 in. (63.5 × 55.9 cm); sheet 29 × 26 in. (73.7 × 66 cm); Collection of Brett Harper. © Charley Harper, all rights reserved

Diminutive marvels of artistry and fine craftsmanship, portrait miniatures reveal a wealth of information within their small frames. They can tell tales of cultural history and biography, of people and their passions, of evolving tastes in jewelry, fashion, hairstyles, and the decorative arts. Unlike many other genres, miniatures have a tradition in which amateurs and professionals have operated in parallel and women artists have flourished as professionals. This richly illustrated book presents approximately 180 portrait miniatures selected from the holdings of the Cincinnati Art Museum, the largest and most diverse collection of its kind in North America. The book stresses the continuity of stylistic tradition across Europe and America as well as the vitality of the portrait miniature format through more than four centuries. A detailed catalogue entry, as well as a concise artist biography, appears for each object. Essays examine various aspects of miniature painting, of the depiction of costume in miniatures, and of the allied art of hair work.Published in association with the Cincinnati Art MuseumExhibition Schedule:Cincinnati Art Museum (March 4–May 28, 2006)       Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina (August 18–October 22, 2006)