Ronald J. Onorato

Ronald Onorato

Biography

Ronald J. Onorato is an Emeritus Professor of Art and Architectural History at the University of Rhode Island.

A nationally known expert on the architectural and sculptural heritage of Rhode Island and Newport from the colonial period to the present, he is an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, Rhode Island Chapter.

He has held positions at a number of museums including as Senior Curator at the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art in California, at the New York Cultural Center in Manhattan and as a principal investigator on several research projects funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. Onorato has been the recipient of fellowships from the Wyeth Foundation, the Prince Foundation, URI Center for the Humanities and the Institute for Materials Science and Material Culture at MIT. He served for two decades on the Rhode Island Historic Preservation and Heritage Commission and chairs the National Register Review board for Rhode Island.

He is currently a Board member of Preserve Rhode Island, The Rhode Island State House Preservation Committee, and the Public Sculpture Commission of Newport and has previously served as a board officer of the Newport Historical Society, the Newport Art Museum, the Pettaquamscutt Historical Society and the Rhode Island Committee on the Humanities.

His teaching covers a broad array of courses from Renaissance to Modern art, American and Contemporary art, architectural history and the history of photography, film and American Material Culture as well as honors courses in the history of art. Onorato developed and teaches field courses with site visits ranging from graveyards and industrial sites to sculptural monuments and often focusing on issues of historic preservation.

He was recently recognized by his peers with the highest statewide award in historic preservation, the Fred Williamson Professional Award (2022).

Selected Publications

  • Buildings of Rhode Island, Oxford University Press, New York, 2004 (contributing editor with William Mackenzie Woodward and William Jordy).
  • AIA Guide to Newport, American Institute of Architects, Providence, 2007
  • “Peter Harrison”, Oxford Dictionary of American Art, 1996
  • “Architecture and Drawing, The Newport Career of John Dixon Johnston” Newport History, Spring 2008
  • “Hope and Memory: The Monuments of Swan Point Cemetery, Markers, The Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies, 2017
  • “An Architect and His Environment, The Career of George Champlin Mason Jr. and his Generative Role In Architectural Preservation and the Colonial Revival Movement”, Newport History, 2019