University of Iowa School of Art and Art History
Encyclopedia
The University of Iowa School of Art and Art History is a school of the University of Iowa
located in Iowa City, IA which awards undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art and Art history
. The graduate program offers Masters of Arts
in Art and Art history, Master of Fine Arts
in Art and Doctor of Philosophy
in Art history.
One of the largest departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
, the School has approximately 800 undergraduate majors, 125 graduate students and 40 faculty and is consistently ranked as one of the top ten public art schools in the US. Faculty and students have included: Grant Wood
, Ana Mendieta
, David Hockney
, Elizabeth Catlett
, H. W. Janson
, Philip Guston
, Charles Ray
, and Mauricio Lasansky
.
In the 1920s, the University brought art history and studio art into one department creating a rich learning environment where studio artist would benefit by learning the history of art and art historians could better understand the studio experience. This innovative idea was copied by many institutions calling it the "Iowa Idea".
Iowa was the first major university to accept creative works, rather than written theses for graduate degrees in the arts. In 1924 the University of Iowa conferred the first graduate degree "Matser's in Graphic and Plastic Arts" to Eve Drewelowe
. In 1940 Elizabeth Catlett
was awarded the first Master of Fine Arts
degree at the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa conferred more graduate arts degrees in the nation between 1946-1962 than any other university.
Grant Wood
taught painting at the School from 1934-1941. H. W. Janson
, renown art historian, taught art history at the School from 1938-41. Philip Guston
taught painting from 1941-1945. Many of Guston's painting from this time show Iowa City buildings in the backgrounds.
Recognizing Iowa's innovative approach, Peggy Guggenheim
donated Jackson Pollock's
"Mural" to the art department in 1951.
Mauricio Lasansky
taught at the School of Art and Art History from 1945-1986. In September 1962, Time Magazine called Lasansky "the nation's most influential printmaker" and his University of Iowa studio "the printmaking capital of the United States."
Ana Mendieta
received an MFA
in Intermedia from the University of Iowa
in 1972. Originally born in Cuba
, her family fled to the United States in 1961 to escape the Cuban Revolution
. Mendieta's work focused on the female body and the landscape. She created photographs, videotapes and films that documented her performances and landscape sculptures. Mendieta died in September 1985 from a fall from a 34th floor apartment in New York City
.
In 1969 the University of Iowa Museum of Art
(UIMA) opened with collections from the School of Art and Art History, including the Pollock
"Mural" and the Beckmann
triptych "Karneval"; and the Elliott Collection, which included works by Braque
, DeChirico
, Kandinsky
, Léger
, Marc
, Matisse
, Picasso
and Vlaminck
. In the 1980s, Maxwell and Elizabeth Stanley
donated one of the most important collections of African art to the Museum.
designed a new building for the School adjacent to quarry pond. Art Building West received the RIBA International Award
and the American Institute of Architects
Honor Award for Architecture in 2007.
The Iowa Flood of 2008
damaged the 1936 Art Building and Steven Holl's
Art Building West. Art Building West is being restored and will be open January 2012. The 1936 Art Building will be replaced with a new Visual Arts Building designed by Steven Holl
. Studio courses are being taught at a temporary facility called Studio Arts until the new Visual Arts building is ready.
Graduate Degrees include:
Visit the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History Graduate Archive.
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
located in Iowa City, IA which awards undergraduate and graduate degrees in Art and Art history
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
. The graduate program offers Masters of Arts
Master of Arts (postgraduate)
A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...
in Art and Art history, Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Art and Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...
in Art history.
One of the largest departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
The University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the largest of the eleven colleges at The University of Iowa, founded in 1900. In 2007-2008, there was a total of 16,417 undergraduates enrolled in CLAS, 81% of all undergraduates at the university, and about 2,400 graduate students...
, the School has approximately 800 undergraduate majors, 125 graduate students and 40 faculty and is consistently ranked as one of the top ten public art schools in the US. Faculty and students have included: Grant Wood
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born four miles east of Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his...
, Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta was a Cuban American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is known for her "earth-body" art work....
, David Hockney
David Hockney
David Hockney, CH, RA, is an English painter, draughtsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, who is based in Bridlington, Yorkshire and Kensington, London....
, Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett Mora is an African-American sculptor and printmaker. Catlett is best known for the black, expressionistic sculptures and prints she produced during the 1960s and 1970s, which are seen as politically charged....
, H. W. Janson
H. W. Janson
Horst Waldemar Janson , who published as H. W. Janson, was an American scholar of art history best known for his History of Art, which was first published in 1962 and has sold more than two million copies in fifteen languages.Janson was born in St. Petersburg in 1913 to Friedrich Janson and Helene...
, Philip Guston
Philip Guston
Philip Guston was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning...
, Charles Ray
Charles Ray (artist)
Charles Ray is a Los Angeles-based sculptor. He is known for his strange and enigmatic sculptures that draw the viewer’s perceptual judgments into question in jarring and unexpected ways...
, and Mauricio Lasansky
Mauricio Lasansky
Mauricio Lasansky is an American graphic artist and printmaker. He is one of the few modern artists who have limited their works almost exclusively to the graphic media...
.
History
The arts were an important part of the curriculum at the University of Iowa long before The School of Art and Art History was officially established in 1936. As far back as 1882, University of Iowa students were required to take "free-hand drawing" courses. Art History was added around 1900 through the departments of Philosophy and Classical Archaeology.In the 1920s, the University brought art history and studio art into one department creating a rich learning environment where studio artist would benefit by learning the history of art and art historians could better understand the studio experience. This innovative idea was copied by many institutions calling it the "Iowa Idea".
Iowa was the first major university to accept creative works, rather than written theses for graduate degrees in the arts. In 1924 the University of Iowa conferred the first graduate degree "Matser's in Graphic and Plastic Arts" to Eve Drewelowe
Eve Drewelowe
Eve Drewelowe was an American artist. Born Eva Drewlow in New Hampton, Iowa, she received the first graduate degree in fine arts granted by the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History...
. In 1940 Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett
Elizabeth Catlett Mora is an African-American sculptor and printmaker. Catlett is best known for the black, expressionistic sculptures and prints she produced during the 1960s and 1970s, which are seen as politically charged....
was awarded the first Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree at the University of Iowa. The University of Iowa conferred more graduate arts degrees in the nation between 1946-1962 than any other university.
Grant Wood
Grant Wood
Grant DeVolson Wood was an American painter, born four miles east of Anamosa, Iowa. He is best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest, particularly the painting American Gothic, an iconic image of the 20th century.- Life and career :His family moved to Cedar Rapids after his...
taught painting at the School from 1934-1941. H. W. Janson
H. W. Janson
Horst Waldemar Janson , who published as H. W. Janson, was an American scholar of art history best known for his History of Art, which was first published in 1962 and has sold more than two million copies in fifteen languages.Janson was born in St. Petersburg in 1913 to Friedrich Janson and Helene...
, renown art historian, taught art history at the School from 1938-41. Philip Guston
Philip Guston
Philip Guston was a notable painter and printmaker in the New York School, which included many of the Abstract expressionists, such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning...
taught painting from 1941-1945. Many of Guston's painting from this time show Iowa City buildings in the backgrounds.
Recognizing Iowa's innovative approach, Peggy Guggenheim
Peggy Guggenheim
Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim was an American art collector. Born to a wealthy New York City family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912 and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who would establish the Solomon R...
donated Jackson Pollock's
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
"Mural" to the art department in 1951.
Mauricio Lasansky
Mauricio Lasansky
Mauricio Lasansky is an American graphic artist and printmaker. He is one of the few modern artists who have limited their works almost exclusively to the graphic media...
taught at the School of Art and Art History from 1945-1986. In September 1962, Time Magazine called Lasansky "the nation's most influential printmaker" and his University of Iowa studio "the printmaking capital of the United States."
Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta
Ana Mendieta was a Cuban American performance artist, sculptor, painter and video artist who is known for her "earth-body" art work....
received an MFA
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
in Intermedia from the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
in 1972. Originally born in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, her family fled to the United States in 1961 to escape the Cuban Revolution
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution was an armed revolt by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement against the regime of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista between 1953 and 1959. Batista was finally ousted on 1 January 1959, and was replaced by a revolutionary government led by Castro...
. Mendieta's work focused on the female body and the landscape. She created photographs, videotapes and films that documented her performances and landscape sculptures. Mendieta died in September 1985 from a fall from a 34th floor apartment in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
In 1969 the University of Iowa Museum of Art
University of Iowa Museum of Art
The University of Iowa Museum of Art is a visual arts institution that is part of the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, USA.-Introduction:The University of Iowa Museum of Art, established in 1969, has one of the top university art collections in the country...
(UIMA) opened with collections from the School of Art and Art History, including the Pollock
Jackson Pollock
Paul Jackson Pollock , known as Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. During his lifetime, Pollock enjoyed considerable fame and notoriety. He was regarded as a mostly reclusive artist. He had a volatile personality, and...
"Mural" and the Beckmann
Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement...
triptych "Karneval"; and the Elliott Collection, which included works by Braque
Georges Braque
Georges Braque[p] was a major 20th century French painter and sculptor who, along with Pablo Picasso, developed the art style known as Cubism.-Early Life:...
, DeChirico
Giorgio de Chirico
Giorgio de Chirico was a pre-Surrealist and then Surrealist Italian painter born in Volos, Greece, to a Genovese mother and a Sicilian father. He founded the scuola metafisica art movement...
, Kandinsky
Wassily Kandinsky
Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely-abstract works. Born in Moscow, Kandinsky spent his childhood in Odessa. He enrolled at the University of Moscow, studying law and economics...
, Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
, Marc
Franz Marc
Franz Marc was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of the German Expressionist movement...
, Matisse
Henri Matisse
Henri Matisse was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known primarily as a painter...
, Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
and Vlaminck
Maurice de Vlaminck
Maurice de Vlaminck was a French painter. Along with André Derain and Henri Matisse he is considered one of the principal figures in the Fauve movement, a group of modern artists who from 1904 to 1908 were united in their use of intense color.-Life:Maurice de Vlaminck was born in Paris to a family...
. In the 1980s, Maxwell and Elizabeth Stanley
C. Maxwell Stanley
Claude Maxwell "Max" Stanley was an American engineer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, peace activist, and world citizen. He founded Stanley Consultants, an engineering and consulting firm; co-founded HON Industries, an office furniture manufacturing company; and funded the Stanley Foundation, an...
donated one of the most important collections of African art to the Museum.
Facilities
In 1936, The University of Iowa constructed a new home for the School of Art and Art History. Built with help from the Rockefeller and Carnegie foundations, the building's design is based on Palladian villas. Several new buildings were added to the arts campus in 1968 including a new printmaking wing, ceramics studios, sculpture foundry, and jewelry/metalsmithing studios. In 2006 Steven HollSteven Holl
Steven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
designed a new building for the School adjacent to quarry pond. Art Building West received the RIBA International Award
RIBA International Award
RIBA International Awards are part of an awards program operated by the Royal Institute of British Architects, also encompassing the Stirling Prize and the European Award.The RIBA International Award rewards "the excellent work being done by RIBA members around the world"...
and the American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
Honor Award for Architecture in 2007.
The Iowa Flood of 2008
Iowa flood of 2008
The Iowa flood of 2008 was a hydrological event involving most of the rivers in eastern Iowa beginning around June 8, 2008 and ending about July 1. Flooding continued on the Upper Mississippi River in the southeastern portion of the state for several more days...
damaged the 1936 Art Building and Steven Holl's
Steven Holl
Steven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
Art Building West. Art Building West is being restored and will be open January 2012. The 1936 Art Building will be replaced with a new Visual Arts Building designed by Steven Holl
Steven Holl
Steven Holl is an American architect and watercolorist, perhaps best known for the 1998 Kiasma Contemporary Art Museum in Helsinki, Finland, the 2003 Simmons Hall at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the celebrated 2007 Bloch Building addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City,...
. Studio courses are being taught at a temporary facility called Studio Arts until the new Visual Arts building is ready.
Areas and Programs of Study
- Art History Division
- Studio Division
- Printmaking
- Painting and Drawing
- Media, Social Practice and Design
- Graphic Design
- Intermedia
- Photography
- Dimensional Practice
- 3D Design
- Ceramics
- Jewelry and Metal Arts
- Sculpture
Degrees Offered
Undergraduate degrees include:Graduate Degrees include:
Graduate Archive
For the past seventy-five years the School of Art and Art History has documented thousands of artworks by artists attending the School's graduate studio programs. Each graduate student was required to leave behind a work or images of the work they completed during their graduate studies here at the University of Iowa. The Graduate Archive contains over 13,000 images of paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures and other art objects. The Archive is unique in the country and provides a critical glimpse of academic American art over much of the last century.Visit the University of Iowa School of Art and Art History Graduate Archive.