Joni Kinsey Ph.D, Artists of an Era Exhibition Essay

ARTISTS OF AN ERA: A NEW DEAL, IOWA ARTISTS, AND IOWA STATE COLLEGE 

Joni Kinsey, Professor of American Art Emeritus, University of Iowa 

Let your artists and sculptors work—make them work!   

It is you who make your artists; and through them you shall be remembered. 

Christian Petersen, Professor of Sculpture, Iowa State College  

This exhibition celebrates the history of art at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University) and its remarkable synergy with science, engineering, agriculture, and home economics that distinguishes that campus.  The emphasis on the arts at Iowa State College (ISC) was energetically developed in the 1930s and 1940s, an era of hardship when investment in things deemed nonessential could hardly have been expected, especially at an institution dedicated to the more practical issues of agriculture and technology.  The vision that built arts programs integrated with mechanical and agrarian arts, and the creation of major public murals and sculptures in such a place was nothing short of revolutionary and it created a legacy that transformed the university and the state of Iowa. 

The leadership of Raymond M. Hughes who became president of ISC in 1927 was the catalyst for this vital period and his administration, including an impressive array of influential women, initiated a wide array of initiatives, including new curriculum in the visual, performing, and literary arts, a variety of arts events, and the commission of monumental artworks that established Iowa State as an important center for the development of American art.  Linking these with other state programs, such as the long-standing art exhibitions at the Iowa State Fair and projects at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, and taking advantage of national funding provided by the Carnegie Foundation and President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, ISU administrators and faculty laid the ground work for an arts culture that captured the attention of the nation and became a hallmark of the state. 

Most dramatic of the many achievements at ISC in the period after 1927 are the major paintings and sculptures that grace the ISU campus today.  A series of impressive murals in the Main Library created by a team of artists under the directorship of Grant Wood for the Public Works of Art Project (PWAP), the first of the New Deal programs for the visual arts, document the central fields of study at ISC in vivid form, and the evocative sculptures of Christian Petersen that similarly express the ideals of campus life adorn a number of buildings and courtyards at Iowa State.  These are notable works of art and are regularly acknowledged as significant products of the federal program, but it is little known that the commission for these originated with President Hughes as part of his larger effort to integrate the arts and sciences at ISC before the establishment of the PWAP and the availability of federal support.  Although the realization of these major objects and the remarkable collaboration of a host of groups who made them possible (artists, ISC scientists, and state and federal programs) are remarkable in themselves—the vision they express of allied arts, culture and practical productivity for the people of Iowa is truly extraordinary.  

This exhibition also celebrates these monumental achievements through an array of smaller images, some created by artists involved with the larger objects or others that depict individuals who had important associations with the arts initiatives of the period.  The objects offer a glimpse into a complex network of people and ideas who recognized the importance of culture of and about Iowa to citizens of the state, and the work they accomplished to achieve those goals.  Ranging from the well-known and nationally influential such as Grant Wood and the federal programs of the Great Depression to the locally important, such as Zenobia Ness and the art exhibitions of the Iowa State Fair, Artists of an Era showcases a remarkable period during which art and culture offered a New Deal to Americans, one that has enriched us to this day.