The grotesques of athletics and drawing, on Hughes High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. Photo by elycefeliz via Flickr [Creative Commons].Continuing with last week’s theme of academic gargoyles and grotesques, let’s take a look at the grotesques of Hughes High School in Cincinnati. This grand building is home to over 90 grotesques representing a wide variety of subjects and skills relating to science, mechanics, fine arts, humanities, and liberal arts (1). Pictured above is the grotesque of athletics in the center, with the grotesque of drawing to the side. More photos of the others can be found here, thanks to a proud Hughes alumnus. The current Hughes High School building – there have been several since Thomas Hughes donated money to start the school in 1825 – was built in 1906 (2).
Interestingly, Hughes High School was renovated a few years ago and has now become Hughes STEM High School, focusing on science and technology (3). That means that some of the subjects celebrated in these grotesques, such as literature and oratory, are not given much value in the new curriculum. Hmmm.
Alexandra Kiely, aka A Scholarly Skater, is an art historian based in the northeastern United States. She loves wandering down the dark and dusty corners of art history and wholeheartedly believes in visual art's ability to enrich every person's life.
Her favorite periods of art history are 19th-century American painting and medieval European art and architecture. When she not looking at, reading about, writing about, or teaching art, she's probably ice dancing or reading.
View all posts by Alexandra Kiely (A Scholarly Skater)
A Scholarly Skater 