Art of the Americas

Rudy Autio
Alice Baber
Christo
Jose Luis Cuevas
Willis Bing Davis
Willem de Kooning
Robert Indiana
Ida Kohlmeyer
George La Chance
Nathan Lerner
Roy Lichtenstein
Claes Oldenburg
Philip Pearlstein
Robert Saint-Brice
T.C. Steele
Joseph Stella
Andy Warhol
William Wiley
Gilbert Wilson

You can view individual works by selecting one of the artists from the list on the left


Art of the Americas:
100 Years of Collecting


The current exhibition is comprised of a selection of works from the Indiana State University Permanent Art Collection. The collection contains nearly 2000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and artifacts from various historical periods. This exhibition serves as a showcase for significant works by twentieth century artists of the Americas.

As a university collection, the Permanent Collection is intended to serve both an educational and aesthetic function on the ISU campus. The collection is accessible for research and study by students, faculty, and members of the surrounding community. Many works from the collection are displayed in public areas throughout campus. Works from the collection have also been lent to other institutions from time to time for inclusion in various exhibitions. The collection provides an excellent opportunity for student/artists, as well as students of art history or criticism, to understand the historical and social context in which they work by examining first-hand the works of major artists. The collection also provides an opportunity for students interested in museum practices to gain experience through working with the curatorial staff on the day-to-day care of the collection.

Historically, ISU has been fortunate in the care and expansion of its collection by the professionals who also have served as curators, including current Department of Art professors Whitney Engeran, David Erickson, and Stephen Smithers. The 1970s were a particularly fruitful time of acquisition activity for the collection. The fine examples of works by pop, photo-realist, and op-art artists evident in this show can be attributed to acquisition activity of this period. The William Wiley print Thank You Hide, that appears on the cover of the catalogue is a stellar example of work acquired during this time.

Another significant part of the collection consists of over 200 works from the Federal Art Project (FAP), a part of the federally funded Works Progress Administration of the 1930s and early 1940s. The WPA Collection is represented in the current show by the works of Joseph Stella and Stuart Davis, among others. Moon Ring Fantasy, an oil by George Marinko, is an excellent example of surrealist imagery from the WPA era.

Hoosier artists are represented in the collection as well. The fine portrait of William Wood Parsons, President of Indiana State Normal School from 1885-1921, by T.C. Steele is a good example of the work of these regional artists. This portrait, a gift of the Class of 1910, is only one example of the official portraiture belonging to ISU.

Other works in the collection have been produced by various artists doing on-site workshops at ISU. Rudy Autio and Mary Beth Edelson are two visiting artists from the 1980s who carried out workshops on campus and produced pieces that were then accessioned into the University Collection.

On behalf of the faculty, staff, and students of ISU, we are pleased to have this opportunity to showcase work from the Permanent Collection. It has been particularly gratifying to work with current ISU students on this project, in both the preparation of the artwork for the exhibition and the research for the catalogue copy. We hope that during your visit to ISU you will have the opportunity to discover other works of art from the Permanent Collection on exhibition throughout the campus.



Christie Wells, Curator, Permanent Collection
Adrian Tio, Chairperson, Department of Art




Selections from the ISU Permanent Art Collection was organized with funding support from the Department of Art, the President's Society at ISU, the Indiana Arts Commission, and the National Endowment for the Arts.


National Endowment for the Arts

Indiana State University

Indiana Arts Commission





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