Winold Reiss and the Cincinnati Union Terminal: Fanfare for the Common Man
Gretchen Garner
When Winold Reiss won the commission to design and install the immense mosaic murals in the Cincinnati Union Terminal in 1931, he was already a noted artist. After immigrating to the United States from Germany in 1913, he quickly had become a sought-after portraitist and designer of large public art projects.
The Cincinnati Union Terminal murals are extraordinary not only for their size and the boldness of their color and design but also for the artist’s use of mosaic, an unusual choice for the time. After Reiss’s death, he and his work fell into relative obscurity as tastes and trends in art changed. The terminal itself closed in 1972 and was partially demolished. It reopened in 1990, transformed into the Cincinnati Museum Center, and the awe-inspiring murals of the rotunda are once again on view to visitors.
Winold Reiss and the Cincinnati Union Terminal collects full-color images of the mosaic murals, including those rescued before the demolition. Gretchen Garner traces the inception of the mural project and the selection of Reiss to design and construct it, as well as Reiss’s own development as an American artist and the artistic and historical context for the work. In this book, these evocative and vibrant murals—a signal work of public art in Ohio and in the nation—finally get the attention they deserve.
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About Gretchen Garner
Reviews for Winold Reiss and the Cincinnati Union Terminal: Fanfare for the Common Man
Cincinnati CityBeat
“Gretchen Garner has performed a high public service with her insightful work on Reiss's Union Terminal mosaics. We know they are highly valued, even cherished, by the people of Cincinnati. Now, thanks to Garner, we can see how they fit into the larger sweep of art history. While it is surprising that this level of study has not been done before, it is very welcome just as nine of the mosaics are returning to the city. The book will help inform and inspire the search for permanent home for these treasures.” “Garner’s easy-to-read outline of Reiss’s work and career builds on previous scholarship…A colorful, accessible, and affordable introduction to Reiss and his public art.”
Indiana Magazine of History
“Garner’s highly readable discussion of the murals covers a wide range of art historical contextualizations, from symbolism, art nouveau, and Der Blaue Reiter to art deco, cubism, Mexican murals, and American regionalism…. This publication does great service both to the general reader interested in the strikingly complex background of Reiss’s murals on American progress and transportation at the Cincinnati Union Terminal and the academic who is sure to find a novel and fascinating visual archive of European American modernism.”
Ohio Valley History