REVIEWS, NOTES AND COMMENTS
BY THE EDITOR
Ohio Art and Artists. By Edna Maria Clark, M.A.
(Richmond. Garrett and Massie, pp.
XIII, 509, $7.50.)
In the second paragraph of this
attractive, interest-
ing and informing volume, the author,
Mrs. Clark,
makes the following statement:
The need of a volume of this kind was
brought forcefully to
the author's attention during an
eight-year period of service as
chairman of art for the Ohio Federation
of Women's Clubs, when
club women made frequent requests for
information regarding
Ohio artists. It was a matter of deep
regret to be able to give
them only a few scattered references for
a small number of artists
of the state. If this book fills, even
partially, the need that arose
at that time, it will have justified its
publication.
If the ladies of the women's clubs were
demanding
such a volume in a larger sense we may
rest assured the
librarians of Ohio and other states
will be gratified to
know that there is now available a book
that treats ade-
quately and exhaustively the subject of
Ohio Art and
Artists. Librarians, we are sure, have for years been
somewhat embarrassed that there has
been no book
treating the subject. That need has now
been met in
Mrs. Clark's sumptuously and attractively
illustrated
book received from the press. No better
index to its
content can be given than the captions
of the sixteen
chapters and four appendices. They are
as follows:
(124)
Reviews, Notes and Comments 125
I. The Art of the Mound Builders and the
Indians
II. Pioneer Crafts
III. A Panoramic View of Architectural Movements
Before 1900
IV. The Development of Painting in
Cincinnati Up to
1900
V. Scattered Art Activities Prior to
1900
VI. Early Sculptors
VII. Ceramics
VIII. Ohio-Born Artists With Careers
Outside the State
IX. The Rise of Ohio Museums
X. The Graphic Arts
XI. Newspaper Artists
XII. Prominent Ohio Painters From 1900 to 1930
XIII. Prominent Ohio Painters From 1900 to 1930 (Con-
tinued)
XIV. Contemporary Tendencies in
Architecture
XV. Outstanding Sculptors of Today
XVI. Summary
Appendices:
A. Art Sales Galleries
B. Art Organizations in Ohio
C. Art Schools of Ohio
D. Biographical List of Ohio Artists
This indicates that the word
"art" is used in a com-
prehensive sense. The book opens with a
chapter on
"The Art of the Mound Builders and
the Indians" and
gives in a brief compass a very
satisfactory view of this
important portion of our state and
territorial history.
Step by step from these chapters is
taken up the art
progress of the state, including
painting, sculpture, ce-
ramics, architecture, the graphic arts
and newspaper art
and artists.
Considerable space is given to ceramics
and this is
entirely proper in the treatment of
Ohio art. East Liv-
erpool is the center of the pottery
business in North
America and work of a highly artistic
character is
produced in Cincinnati and Zanesville.
126
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The topical method of treatment makes
the work
very convenient for women's clubs and
other research
workers. In looking down the list of
chapters of the
book one in imagination can see many
chapters and mon-
ographs blossoming with these as a
basis.
A commendable feature of the book is
its "Biograph-
ical List of Ohio Artists"
covering pages 437-503 of the
volume. Mrs. Clark is too modest to
include her own
name in the list. We will therefore
supply this deficiency
by the statement that she was born in
Champaign
County, Ohio. Her grandfather settled
there with a
group of pioneers from Woodstock,
Connecticut, and
founded the village of Woodstock, Ohio.
For many years
Mrs. Clark studied art, spending four
summers in the
galleries of Europe. In 1924 she was
graduated from
the Ohio State University with the
degree of M.A., ma-
joring in art history. For the past
fifteen years she has
taught private classes. For eight years
she has been
Chairman of the Art Division of the
Ohio Women's
Clubs and has had direction of the art
department of
women's work for the State Fair of
Ohio.
As has been observed, this book in
small quarto size
is more than a history of art. It
includes much of the
history of the state, but only that
part which comes
properly under the title of the book.
It is a very attrac-
tive volume. The size of the pages
gives ample room
for illustrations. The plates, 142 in
number, are chosen
with rare good taste. The type and
paper are all that
could be desired. The work should find
a place in every
public library of the state and in many
private libraries.
It is a distinctive addition to our
Ohioana. We cannot
Reviews, Notes and Comments 127
do better than to reproduce two of the
many excellent
reviews that have already appeared:
H. E. CHERRINGTON, in Columbus Evening
Dispatch, October 16,
1932
Here's a book which should be in every
public library in Ohio
and contiguous states and which should
find a place also in every
library of any inclusive sort at all, belonging to
people who make
pretension to patronage of the fine arts.
Edna Maria (Mrs. J. E.) Clark, of
Columbus, has here pre-
pared a work that is monumental. It
represents the most hercu-
lean of labor; the most catholic of taste, yet a fine
discrimination
and balance which gives it permanent
historical value. The illus-
trations, 142 in number, range from the
art of the mound builders
to the present time and include for a
frontispiece an excellent pro-
duction of Frank Duveneck's "The Whistling
Boy," a real Ameri-
can art classic, and one of the proud
possessions of the Cincinnati
gallery.
Columbus is well represented among the
illustrations, espe-
cially in the realm of architecture, and
in the chapter on cartoon-
ists The Dispatch may be proud
that prominent mention is given
to W. A. Ireland and Ray Evans,
cartoonists, with illustrations of
their work, and an obeisance also to the
facile versatility of Dudley
Fisher, jr. Included in the brief
biographical sketches in the rear
of the volume of 843 Ohio artists are many Columbus
painters and
sculptors with special mention, we are
glad to note, of Albert C.
Fauley, pupil of Bouguereau and Blanc,
and his versatile wife,
Lucy, both born in Fultonham, Muskingum
county, and an illus-
tration of Mr. Fauley's portrait of
McKinley which hangs in the
statehouse in Columbus.
The book begins with the mound-builders;
illustrates them
freely from the treasures of the
Archaeological society; describes
pioneer crafts and then gives a
panoramic view of architectural
movements before 1900. There are
chapters on early art move-
ments in various places, a valuable
chapter on ceramics, with
proper credit to Rookwood and Cowan; a
chapter on Ohio mu-
seums; one on graphic arts, with mention
of master etchers and
lithographers and adequate illustration
of Professor Thomas E.
French's beautiful book-plates. Proper
acknowledgement in this
invaluable volume is also made to the
galleries and the art schools
of the state.
"With the superb training the
artist can obtain in the state,"
says the author, "what may we not
hope for him? Has there ever
been a time when painters were
experimenting with so many
128 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
different effects? Some adhere to the
conservative traditions;
others conform abjects to angles, or go
into painted abstractions;
still others like the linear patterns of
the Japanese, or the flat
painting of the Persians. . . The
public, with a newly-awakened
art consciousness, is making honest attempts to
discover the merits
in the contemporary art movements, and
that is a healthy omen
for the future."
MARY L. ALEXANDER, in Cincinnati Enquirer, September 25, 1932
At last we have a record of the vanished
past as well as the
later development of Ohio artists and
their activities in Edna
Maria Clark's book, Ohio Art and
Artists.
The book is indeed, as its prospectus
claims, more than a
record of Ohio art and artists; it is a
cultural history of the people
of our state; it gives a complete
history of their contribution to
the arts and crafts of Ohio from the
Mound Builders to the con-
temporary artists. It aims above all at
spreading an all-round
knowledge of this culture, its origin
and its development and to
this end the extraordinary rich material
which Mrs. Clark has
assembled has seemingly been arranged
with two different prin-
ciples. On the one hand she gives a full
and spirited resume of
the art of the Mound Builders, the
pioneer crafts, architectural
movements before 1900 and then
traces the beginning and de-
velopment of painting in Cincinnati,
noting the scattered art
activities prior to 1900. She notes the
activities of the early
sculptors and dwells at length on
ceramics and notes Cincinnati's
preeminence in this craft and its far
reaching influence, while in
the nine succeeding chapters she deals
with Ohio-born artists,
classifying them according to their
professional mediums, their
places in history and giving with keen
penetration what each has
accomplished or contributed to art.
One of the most interesting chapters is
devoted to the rise
of Ohio museums, which developed along
with the activities
among collectors and the desire in general
for a higher order of
art. She gives the Cincinnati Museum the
credit due it for col-
lecting consistently the work of
American artists and it is a well-
known fact that it was the policy of J.
H. Gest, who was for
many years Director of the Museum, to
collect American painting
and it is interesting to see that the
illustrations reproduced in the
book are of paintings that are in our
museum.
Mrs. Clark's book, however, is no
routine record such as
might be digested by a student of art;
her text is thrilling reading
and will be appreciated alike by the
avowed student and the
general reader. The vast wealth of well
chosen illustrations will
Reviews, Notes and Comments 129
be found a treasure house by those who
respond to whatever is
provocative in pictures--those who
thrill to a Wyant, Whitt-
redge, Mosler, Sonntag or a Duveneck,
Bellows, Henri, Hopkins,
Twachtman, DeCamp, Weis, Farny, Wessel,
Blum, Myers, Sel-
den, Schille, Edmondson, Keller,
Gottwald and others.
CINCINNATI ARTISTS RECOGNIZED
A fact that will please Cincinnatians is
that Mrs. Clark, at
the start, points out the indebtedness
of Ohio art to the influence
of a remarkable group of early painters
in Cincinnati, saying that
Cincinnati has probably produced more
men of artistic ability
than any other city, and in the history
of art in the state, it is
in a way comparable to Florence in Italy
during the high Re-
naissance. She calls the period from 1870 to 1890 the golden age
of art in Cincinnati. Here is the list that she gives
of men born
in or near Cincinnati and working here
during that period: Duve-
neck, Twachtman, DeCamp, Blum, Farny,
Niehaus, Henri,
Sharp, Barnhorn, Meakin and Forsyth.
Duveneck, she declares,
was the source of inspiration and the
leader of the group. To
Cincinnatians this is an intensely
interesting chapter and we marvel
at the power Mrs. Clark displays in
arranging and writing her
story of facts.
The book contains many surprises in the
way of information
even for those who are cognizant of Ohio
art production. The
chapter on newspaper artists is a real
revelation. Do my readers
know that Edwina Dumm, the creator of
"Cap Stubbs" and
"Tippy," began her work in
Columbus and was the only woman
in the country who executed her ideas in
cartoons and comic
strips, or that Richard Outcault, the
originator of "The Yellow
Kid" and "Buster Brown,"
was born in Lancaster, Ohio, or that
Frederic Opper, the dean of cartoonists,
the originator of "Maud,"
"Alphonse and Gaston" and
"Happy Hooligan," was born at
Madison, Ohio?
Mrs. Clark in her book has covered an
amazing field. Her
biographic section dealing with the
biographies of nearly 850 men
and women of early and contemporary art
production is an amaz-
ing piece of work.
As a book of reference it should be on
the shelves of every
museum and library in Ohio. As a book
dealing with folk art
and the story of Ohio's cultural
development it should be a part
of the library of every patriot in Ohio,
for Mrs. Clark has a com-
plete understanding of her subject and
her text is written in a
flowing and spirited style.
Vol. XLII--9