Bessie Potter Vonnoh — 2008

Sculptor of Women

Essay by Janis Conner

“This much-anticipated project promises to introduce a new generation to Vonnoh’s significant place in the history of American sculpture.”

— Fine Art Connoisseur

In the Gilded Age, when most sculptors aspired to produce monuments, 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.

Julie Aronson is Curator of American Painting and Sculpture at the Cincinnati Art Museum. She is co-curator of the exhibition Perfect Likeness: European and American Portrait Miniatures at the Cincinnati Art Museum and coauthor of its accompanying publication. She was also one of the curatorial team that created the permanent collection display The Cincinnati Wing: The Story of Art in the Queen City and the editor of its companion volume.