Janice Simon National Gallery Exhibition and Essay

Yale University Press recently published an essay by Associate Professor of Art History Janice Simon as a part of the National Gallery of Art’s exhibition catalog for The American Pre-Raphaelites: Radical Realists.

In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of John Ruskin (1819-1900), considered the most influential art critic of the Victorian era, the National Gallery of Art presented more than 80 paintings, watercolors, drawings and photographs created by American artists who were profoundly influenced by the renowned critic. The exhibition ran from April 18th to July 22nd, 2019.

Along with the National Gallery of Art’s exhibition, Yale University Press published a fully illustrated 300-page exhibition catalog. The catalog includes a wide range of essays and artists, that all explore Ruskin’s influence on the American artists. Simon’s essay entitled, The New Path 1863-1865: “He Serves All, Who Dares Be True” was published among this catalog of scholars. The essay explores other “radical realists” hailed by the Association’s journal, The New Path.

Simon’s research focuses on American Art, particularly painting and photography of the 19th and 20th centuries with special emphases on landscape imagery, environmentalism, and transcendentalist correspondences. Her research also focuses on American Art criticism and the formation of art periodicals in the 19th century, such as the New Path, the focus of her essay in the catalog of The American Pre-Raphaelites: Radical Realists.

Associate Professor Janice Simon has taught at the School of Art since 1988, making this her 31st year at the Dodd. Dr. Simon is Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor of Art History. She received her MA as well as her Ph.D. with Great Distinction in Art History from the University of Michigan. Her dissertation “The Crayon (1855-1861): The Voice of Nature in Criticism, Poetry and Fine Arts” is the most comprehensive study of the America’s premier art journal of the antebellum period. Dr. Simon’s extensive knowledge of The Crayon, The New Path, as well as The Aldine, show the extensiveness of her knowledge and research on American Art periodicals before and after the Civil War.

Learn more about the exhibition The American Pre-Raphaelites: Radical Realists and its catalog here.