at the Philadelphia Academy of the Fine Arts, a center of the American realist tradition as exemplified by such artist-teachers as Raphaelle Peale, Thomas Eakins, and Robert Henri. Yet it is very much his own: honest and unpretentious, yet beautifully crafted and wryly humorous. Although seemingly at odds with modernism as represented by Abstract Expressionism and other mid-twentieth century movements, his work takes its place in the Academy s mid-century modern realism, as seen in the work of his teachers Francis Speight and Walter Stuempfig. Kramer s mature style shows the influence of artists as diverse as Giorgio de Chirico and Edward Hopper. Kramer has, in fact, contributed to Minnesota art and culture in numerous ways: as painter, sculptor, teacher, gallery director, arts administrator, gallery owner, and art restorer. This book, the first extended study of his life and work, draws on interviews with the artist and his family, unpublished papers and photographs, and contemporaneous accounts to show how his family, travels (including important sojourns to Spain and Scotland), and entrepreneurial spirit helped shape his work. A wide range of scholarship is used to put his work in the context of state, national, and international art movements. Other Realities: The Art of Paul Kramer is lavishly illustrated with numerous reproductions of works in public and private collections, most never before published, to establish the breadth and depth of this important artist s work.

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