Arrivo a Bologna Painting

"Standing out among paintings in (the Salon des Refuses) is Salon founder Jerry Ross' oil portrait entitled "Arrivo a Bologna." Ross is a master of portraiture, and this is one of his best: subtle, tender, suggestive, spare in composition and palette (limited to reds, ochres, and blacks). Yet look at the richness, for instance, of the blacks. The delicacy with which Ross captures his sitter's expression and mood is crucial, but the artist also plays here with cultural symbols. Initially, Bologna the Red owed its nickname to the coloring of its facades: orange ("Bologna Red") and ochre (Modena yellow) stucco, red brick of medieval buildings. All these colors are cleverly echoed in the painting. Later, starting with its partisan resistabce in world War II, Bologna, now one of the richest cities in Italy, became "red" for its socialism and communism. Hence the Soviet-style coat and hat worn by the subject." Visual Arts by Sylvie Pederson, Eugene Weekly, 9/22/2005