John Taylor Arms

The Cleveland Museum of Art presented the exhibition, Modern Gothic: The Etchings of John Taylor Arms from June 9 through September 20, 2012 in the Prints and Drawings Gallery. On their website they described John Taylor Arms as “one of the foremost American printmakers of the first half of the 20^th century. Trained as an architect, he spent the majority of his 50-year career documenting Europe’s great Gothic churches. Arms believed that art could be a tool for the spiritual and moral improvement of mankind and that Gothic cathedrals represented ‘the most significant expression of man’s aspirations.’ He viewed printmaking as a vehicle for disseminating images of subjects that would uplift and inspire contemporary society.”

Photo credit: John Taylor Arms, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum J0001199