Dear Friends, I hope that you are safe and well. As I listen to the sounds of firecrackers mingling with lawn mowers on this hot, sunny weekend in Iowa City, it’s impossible to forget, even for a moment, the crises unfolding in our community and in our world. We are in the midst of a global pandemic. Our economy is fragile, and many people are suffering. At the same time, demands for longoverdue racial justice have called us to examine our beliefs and change our practices. We are building a new museum during a pivotal historic moment. As we strive to meet the challenges of this moment, it’s worth remembering that on a similarly warm summer day in 1934, University of Iowa President Walter Jessup laid the cornerstone of a building designed expressly for the study of art—the first such structure on the UI campus.
Photo by Uri Lessing
The new Fine Arts Building would soon house an innovative educational program—the first of its kind—that would leverage the power of art to awaken new perceptions and teach new skills, enabling UI graduates to interact with their world in eloquent, powerful ways. This was timely. The nation was four years into the Great Depression. Nearly one in four Americans was out of work. The dust bowl ravaging the American Midwest had already destroyed thirtyfive million acres of farmland. As Jessup’s audience shielded their eyes from the bright sun to watch the cornerstone settle into place, fascism was casting a lengthening and evil shadow over much of the world. What Jessup knew then, and what I know now, is that art can be a light in the darkness, illuminating a path to a better future. It is both a comfort to the sufferer and a powerful weapon against injustice. To quote the German author Bertolt Brecht, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.” Fifteen years after the cornerstone of the Fine Arts Building was laid, Elizabeth Catlett left the University of Iowa with the very first MFA degree—a hammer with which she would change the world. Over the past year, the indefatigable construction crew at our building site has been hard at work and the frame of the new Stanley Museum of Art is now complete. It is our challenge to live up to the elegance of the building’s design and make the museum truly work for our campus and our community. If we do this work well, we will honor the vision of teachers like Jessup, artists like Catlett, and museum leaders like Lonnie Bunch, secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, who recently extolled the power of museums to raise questions, begin public conversations, and help audiences become comfortable with nuance and complexity. Please stay safe as you care for one another! Best wishes,
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