Young Indian Woman

Henry Mosler (1841-1920)
Oil on silk, 1887
Paris, France
Gift of Stanley and Frances Cohen
1996.155.1

This tondo-shaped study on silk of a young Indian woman may  seem out of place in a museum of Jewish art and artifacts, but Cincinnati connections abound. It was painted by Henry Mosler, who also painted Plum Street Temple, on view in this gallery. A Jew of German descent, he was a member of the Cincinnati family that owned Mosler Safe Company. The artist trained and lived in Europe, eventually making a home in New York City, and was extremely successful in his own time. This small treasure is the only surviving painted example that relates to Mosler’s commission for two large works of Native American subjects.

The study is inscribed “To Rosa Sachs from her old friend Henry Mosler.” The eldest daughter of Marcus and Nanni Fechheimer, Rosa married Samuel B. Sachs. Together, the couple established The Rosa F. and Samuel B. Sachs Fund Prize, first awarded in 1929 and continuing to this day, to honor outstanding accomplishments in the arts – inclusive of visual arts, music, theatre, dance, literature, sculpture and architecture – and to honor local, regional, national and international artists who have made an outstanding contribution to the cultural life of the Greater Cincinnati region.