Olga Mohr
Olga Mohr | |
---|---|
Born | Elizabeth Olga Mohr July 20, 1905 |
Died | April 10, 1955 | (aged 49)
Nationality | American |
Other names | Olga E. Zoellner, Olga Elizabeth Mohr, Olga Mohr Zoellner |
Occupation | artist |
Years active | 1931–1953 |
Olga Mohr (1905–1955) was an American artist who worked in various mediums including painting, ceramics and weaving. She was one of the WPA′s Section of Fine Arts artists and created the post office mural for Stilwell, Oklahoma. She was also in charge of the Federal Art Project for the Cincinnati public schools and was the only female member of the New Group of Cincinnati Artists, who studied and exhibited modern art in Ohio during the decade preceding World War II.
Early life
[edit]Elizabeth Olga Mohr[1] was born on July 20, 1905, in Little Rock, Arkansas[2] to Ellen[1][3][4] (or possibly Elizabeth née Spencer)[5] and Ernest Louis Mohr. She grew up in the Oklahoma City area, where her father was a draper at a furniture store.[1][3][4] She attended the Art Academy of Cincinnati,[2] where she began competing in federal art projects in the early 1930s. In 1931, she won second prize in the National Association of Amusement Parks competition.[6] She and fellow student Richard C. Zoellner completed their studies and in 1932, held an exhibition at the Cincinnati Art Museum of industrial designs with their former teacher, William Hentschel,[7] of Rookwood Pottery fame.[8] The exhibit earned praise and was so successful that its initial run was extended for several months. Mohr and Zoellner's works were praised as being individually distinct and rich in contrast, pattern and technique.[9]
Career
[edit]By 1933,[10] Mohr, who retained her maiden name,[11] and Zoellner had married[10] and soon joined the United States Treasury's Section of Fine Arts,[12] as well as continuing their exhibits around Cincinnati. In February 1935, Mohr participated in an exhibit of paintings at the Wurlitzer Gallery[13] and then in November of the same year was praised for her work in a showing at the Cincinnati Art Museum. Her impressionistic works "Ballet Petruscha" and "Les Sylphides" earned accolades in the press.[14] In 1936, she won honorable mention in a showing at the Denver Art Museum[2] and exhibited works along with several artists at a memorial show for the creator of the Middletown Art Study Club, Mrs. R. W. Solomon.[15] By 1937, Mohr was in charge of the Federal Art Project for the Cincinnati public schools[12] and painted the mural for the Linwood School.[2]
Mohr was the only woman in the group known as the New Group of Cincinnati Artists, which included Myer Abel, Paul G. Craft, Edward Firn, William Gebhardt, Harry Gothard, Mohr, Leo Murphy, Mathias Noheimer, and Zoellner. In 1937, the group was invited to do shows at the Art Association of Richmond, Indiana, and at the University of Chattanooga.[16] Later that year, the couple were in Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands, where Richard had been commissioned by the government to paint[11] and Mohr was sent to make studies of typical island scenes by the WPA.[17] Three of Mohr's entries at the Getz-Brown Gallery's 1938 exhibition, "Evening", "Memories of the Past", and "Self Portrait" were highlighted for their deep-toned and thought-provoking spirit.[18] Her landscape painting "Memories of the Past" was singled out for an award and was praised as one which created almost a daily stir at the gallery.[17]
In 1939, one of Mohr's paintings was selected to appear that the New York World's Fair[2] and in 1942 she installed a commissioned piece for the WPA in the post office in Stilwell, Oklahoma. The work, entitled "Cherokee Indian Farming and Animal Husbandry" depicted farming activities and was an oil on canvas installation.[2][19] Later that year, the couple closed their Cincinnati studio[20] and two years later they moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama,[21] where Richard began working at the University of Alabama[20] and Mohr took time off to raise their son David. After a seven-year hiatus, she returned to school to study ceramics and textile arts. She submitted works to the National Ceramics Show in Syracuse, New York[22] and won several local prizes for her works.[21][23] In 1953, Mohr spent the summer studying Mexican weaving techniques at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico[24] and returned to Alabama to complete her degree in Art from the University of Alabama later that year.[25] Soon thereafter, she was diagnosed with cancer[20] and after a lengthy illness, Mohr died April 10, 1955, at Druid City Hospital in Tuscaloosa. She was buried in Portsmouth, Ohio, her husband's childhood home.[25] Rather than flowers, mourners were asked to contribute to a fund which purchased one of Zoellner's paintings to memorialize Mohr at the University of Alabama.[26]
References
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ a b c US Census 1910, p. 2B.
- ^ a b c d e f Stilwell Democrat-Journal 1977, p. 15.
- ^ a b US Census 1920, p. 5A.
- ^ a b US Census 1930, p. 11B.
- ^ Alabama Deaths 1955.
- ^ Fairfield Daily Ledger 1931, p. 10.
- ^ The Cincinnati Enquirer & 10/1932, p. 57.
- ^ Tenkotte & Claypool 2015, p. 510.
- ^ The Cincinnati Enquirer & 11/1932, p. 61.
- ^ a b The Cincinnati Enquirer 1933, p. 7.
- ^ a b The Portsmouth Times & 4/1937, p. 26.
- ^ a b The Portsmouth Daily Times & 1/1937, p. 2.
- ^ The Cincinnati Enquirer 1935, p. 50.
- ^ Alexander 1935, p. 75.
- ^ The Journal News 1936, p. 7.
- ^ The Cincinnati Enquirer 1937, p. 85.
- ^ a b The Cincinnati Enquirer & 3/1938, p. 62.
- ^ The Cincinnati Enquirer & 2/1938, p. 12.
- ^ Kalish 2013.
- ^ a b c The Tuscaloosa News 2003, p. 2-B.
- ^ a b The Tuscaloosa News & 10/1951, p. 21.
- ^ The Tuscaloosa News & 11/1951, p. 2.
- ^ The Anniston Star 1953, p. 9.
- ^ The Portsmouth Times 1953, p. 51.
- ^ a b The Tuscaloosa News & November 4, 1955, p. 1.
- ^ The Tuscaloosa News & April 21, 1955, p. 6.
Bibliography
[edit]- Alexander, Mary L. (November 3, 1935). "The Week in Art Circles". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- Kalish, Evan (October 10, 2013). "Post Office Mural – Stilwell OK". Living New Deal. Berkeley, California: Department of Geography, University of California.
- Tenkotte, Paul A.; Claypool, James C. (2015). The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky. Lexington, Kentucky: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-5996-6.
- "1910 US Federal Census: Oklahoma". FamilySearch. Norman, Oklahoma: US National Archives and Records Administration. April 19, 1910. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "1920 US Federal Census: Oklahoma". FamilySearch. Norman, Oklahoma: US National Archives and Records Administration. January 6, 1920. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "1930 US Federal Census: Oklahoma". FamilySearch. Norman, Oklahoma: US National Archives and Records Administration. April 12, 1930. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "Alabama Deaths, 1908–1974: Olga Elizabeth Zoellner". FamilySearch. ref I.D. #8363. Montgomery, Alabama: Alabama Department of Health. April 10, 1955. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: others (link) - "Cincinnatians". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. March 21, 1937. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Display of Designs". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. November 13, 1932. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Display of Industrial Designs". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. October 23, 1932. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- "In Society". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. December 13, 1933. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Memorial Painting Will Be Purchased for Mrs. Zoellner". Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The Tuscaloosa News. April 21, 1955. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "Mrs. Olga Zoellner, Wife of U-A Teacher Dies, Ohio Rites Set". Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The Tuscaloosa News. April 11, 1955. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- and
- "New Group". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 27, 1938. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Richard C. Zoellner". Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The Tuscaloosa News. March 8, 2003. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "Tuscaloosa Family of Three All Art Winners at State Fair". Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The Tuscaloosa News. October 7, 1951. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "University Ceramics Works to be Shown". Tuscaloosa, Alabama: The Tuscaloosa News. November 21, 1951. Retrieved May 19, 2016.
- "W. M. Gebhardt, W. H. Gothard and Olga Mohr's Paintings at Wurlitzer Galleries". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. February 17, 1935. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- "The Week in Art Circles". Cincinnati, Ohio: The Cincinnati Enquirer. March 6, 1938. Retrieved May 19, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- .