Topic: College of Fine Arts

March 22, 2007

Arm Chair
<b>Warren McArthur designed this custom-made aluminum arm chair that was found in the most forward-looking offices, hotels and other glamorous interiors between the 1920s and the 1940s.</b>
The Ball State University Museum of Art is paying tribute to its beginnings with an exhibition of artwork created or contributed during the 1930s.

"The 70th anniversary exhibition captures a moment and reflects upon an entire era," said Peter Blume, the museum's director. "We want to demonstrate that right out of the box; the museum was very selective in the artworks it chose to obtain and put on display."

The exhibition will include artworks from the collections of Frank C. Ball, one of the university's founders, and Ball's grandson, David T. Owsley. Other pieces highlighted in the exhibition are gifts from Ned and Gloria Griner, former Ball State professors, and Depression-era photographs.

Several works of art in the exhibition were donated in more recent years, but those received in 1936 are considered the seminal collection, said Carl Schafer, the museum's associate director. An early contribution to the collection is a vase from Overbeck Pottery of Cambridge City, Ind., donated by Frank C. Ball.

"Every piece selected exemplifies the exhibition," Schafer said. "'Vase' is the antithesis of modernism, which valued mass production and simple ornamentation, and is truly one of a kind."

Recent donations included in the exhibit are:

  • An arm chair designed by Warren McArthur is custom-made from aluminum and would have been found in the most forward-looking offices, hotels and other glamorous interiors between the 1920s and the 1940s. The joints of the tubular frame are joined by tension rods instead of welding.
  • "Queer Fish" by Mabel Dwight depicts a fish taking on humanoid characteristics of visitors to an aquarium.
  • "Tree Planting Group" a lithograph by Grant Wood shows a group of school-aged children and a woman planting a tree outside of a building.

Also on display are photographs by Arthur Rothstein and Edward Weston, who were a part of the Works Progress and Farm Securities administrations.

Rothstein's pieces are from the Farm Security Administration, a New Deal program created in 1937 to assist poor farmers during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression. Weston's pictures were allocated by the federal government's Works Progress Administration, a relief agency established in 1935 that offered work to the unemployed.

"Weston helped elevate photography to a fine art, and Rothstein's images were very well known in the 1930s, helping to shape the public's opinion of government relief programs," Schafer said.

The 70th Anniversary Exhibition is on view until Aug. 12. An opening reception for the exhibition and the 72nd Student Art Show will be at 5 p.m. March 30 at the museum. The reception is free and open to the public.

The student art show features about 100 works, including paintings, sculptures, video and furniture on display through April 29.

In addition to the opening reception, the museum has planned "Friday with Friends" to celebrate the 1930s. The free event will be from 5 to 7 p.m. May 18 and will include music and food from the era. It is sponsored by the Friends of the Ball State University Museum of Art.

The museum is free to the public and open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.bsu.edu/artmuseum or call (765) 285-5242.

By Jody Kress