The nation's premier private collection of Rookwood art pottery featuring American Indian portraiture is on display at the Cincinnati Art Museum from October 2007 to January 2008. Rookwood and the American Indian: Masterpieces of American Art Pottery from the James J. Gardner Collection is a remarkable exhibition catalogue that will be of interest well beyond the exhibition because of its unique subject matter. Fifty-two pieces produced by the Rookwood Pottery Company are showcased, many accompanied by black-and-white photographs of the American Indians portrayed by the ceramic artist. In addition, the catalogue includes a brief biography of each artist as well as curators' comments about the Rookwood pottery and the Indian apparel seen in the portraits. The catalogue also presents two essays. The first, "Enduring Encounters: Cincinnatians and American Indians to 1900," by ethnologist and co-curator Susan Labry Meyn, describes American Indian activities in Cincinnati from the time of the first settlers to 1900 and relates these events to national policy, such as the 1830 Indian Removal Act. Rookwood and the American Indian, by art historian Anita J. Ellis, concentrates on Rookwood's fascination with the American Indian and the economic implications of producing that line. Rookwood and the American Indian blends anthropology with art history to reveal the relationships between the white settlers and the Native Americans in general, between Cincinnati and the American Indian in particular, and ultimately between Rookwood artists and their Indian friends.

From back cover of paperback version: "First published in 1922, this volume (specifically planned for the general reader) includes 27 tales of Indian life. Among the contributors are Franz Boas, A. L. Kroeber, Robert H. Lowie, Clark Wissler, Paul Radin, Edward Sapir, and John R. Swanton. Concerning the method of the book, A. L. Krober, says in his introduction: The fictional form of presentation devised by the editor has definite merit. It allows a freedom in depicting or suggesting the thoughts and feelings of the Indian, such as is impossible in a formal, scientific report. In fact, it incites to active psychological treatment, else the tale would lag. At the same time customs depicted are never invented. Each author has adhered strictly to the social facts as he knew them. He has merely selected those that seemed most characteristic, and woven them into a plot around an imaginary Indian hero or heroine."

History and legends of the Klamath Indians.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 14.0px Verdana} At the height of the Arts and Crafts era in Europe and the United States, American ceramics were transformed from industrially produced ornamental works to handcrafted art pottery. Celebrated ceramists such as George E. Ohr, Hugh C. Robertson, and M. Louise McLaughlin, and prize-winning potteries, including Grueby and Rookwood, harnessed the potential of the medium to create an astonishing range of dynamic forms and experimental glazes. Spanning the period from the 1870s to the 1950s, this volume chronicles the history of American art pottery through more than three hundred works in the outstanding collection of Robert A. Ellison Jr. In a series of fascinating chapters, the authors place these works in the context of turn-of-the-century commerce, design, and social history. Driven to innovate and at times fiercely competitive, some ceramists strove to discover and patent new styles and aesthetics, while others pursued more utopian aims, establishing artist communities that promoted education and handwork as therapy. Written by a team of esteemed scholars and copiously illustrated with sumptuous images, this book imparts a full understanding of American art pottery while celebrating the legacy of a visionary collector.