Rose Kohler

A celebrated artist and a gifted educator, Rose Kohler wrote extensively on the power of art to influence emotion and ideology for good or ill. Rose Kohler studied painting and sculpture at Hunter, the Cincinnati Arts Academy, and the Art Students League of New York, and had shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, and the National Academy of Design in New York, among many others. Her two most famous pieces were a bust of her father, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler (president of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati), and a medallion called The Spirit of the Synagogue. She later served as an educator and chair of religious schools for the Cincinnati chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women. She wrote extensively on the importance of Jewish education, as well as on the origins and evolution of Jewish religious art and its potential to spark a passion for Jewish culture and ideals in both Jews and non-Jews. She also explored the dark side of art’s power to influence hearts and minds, documenting examples of anti-Semitic art that was used to incite pogroms in Europe.