'nie Scarlet at Black, March, 2 I979—page s

 

Is there a place
for art at Grinnell?

by Ken Ki'iinsteiii

Grlnnell College is one hundred
and thirty-three years old. The
Grinnell permanent art collection
is seventeen years old,

In that time. without using
college funds, the collection has
grown to encompass some 838
original works oi art

THIS ART. .-\5 any visitor to
Grlnnell knows. is everywhere.
.The library. the Forum. Career
Services Office and more, all
iiouse originals,

Nick Baldwin, art critic for the
Des Moines negister, was so im-
pressed by the accessibility of the
Grinnell collection that a visit in
October prompted him to write an
article about the collection which
he called ”Museum Without
Walls "

BUTASIDE FROM the luxury of

one of the finest collections of
Zairian art in this country,

Grinnellhas been the recipient of

selected national grants. including
the initial Ford Foundation grant
in 1961 and an important $10,000
grant from the Merrill Trust Foun-
dation,
‘ THE MERRILL GRANT, given
only to ten select collega in the
United States, included the unique
stipulation that no one work should
Cost more than 1,000 dollars, and
that all of the works purchased
with the fund should be by living
artists.

Cervene travelled to
Chicago. New York.sand San
Francisco, finally adding to the
collection works by such important
contemporary artists as Robert
Motherwell. Richard Hunt. and
Claus Oldenburg

having original art out and around,
art professor and collection
curator, Richard Cervene, sees the
crucial need [or a permanent home
for Grinnell’s growing collection.
Almost half of the original art at
Grinnell College isn’t being seen; it
lies in the basement of the Fine
Arts Center in a room better suited
for storing theatrical ﬂats than
pieces at rare African sculpture.

Cervene isn't alone in seeing the
need for this facilty. Campus
opinion seems unanimous. As
theatre professor Jan Czechowski
put it, “It’s a crime.“

IT CANNOT BE denied that the

‘ Grlnnell collection is first rate, and
that its current facilities fall far
short of the mark. President
'hlrner said, “Of the colleges of the
ACM that I’ve been atiand that’s
most of them—we have one of the
worst facilities. .and better
collections.”

The strengm of the Grlnnell
collection sets it off from those of
other schools its size. Although
major eastern school museums,
such as the I-‘ogg at Harvard,
possess many “masterpieces,”
Grinnell's collection compares
very favorably to other college‘s
collections.

WHILE MOST school”s of
Grinnell’s level are lorced to buy
only minor works, Grinnell has
been the fortunate recipient of
some considerable gifts.

Most notable is the collection of
Clinton A. Rehling, ’39. Since 1974,
Mr. Rehling has given some 166
works to the college’s collection.
ranging from Greek sculpture to
the 'pop art piece ”James" (pic-
tured).

AN IMPORTANT collection Of
African art objects, all from Zaire,
is being given to the collection by
Carol and Kenneth L. Adelman,
'67. Along with other gifts of West
African arts, Grinnell can boast

ALTHOUGH THE collection has
been growing at almost logarithr
mic proportions since its inception,
the next step requires prompt
action says Cervene, Turner
agrees, acknowledging the real
need for a home and further ad-
ding, “the fundamental question is
getting. .a gallery with two
featuresiclimate control and good
security.”

Cervene maintains that the
commitment expressed by donors
to the collection, such as Mr.
Rehling, “deserves a commitment

by the college in the form of a
designed facility complete with
environmental controls to
adequately house and display with
security the permanent collection.
This need is critical.”

THE MATERIAL and aesthetic
values of such a facility are echoed
throughout the campus

Philosophy professor Dan
Magurshak says, “One problem is
there is not enough Beauty at
Grlnnell whre we can go and dwell
in the beauty.”

HISTORY PROFESSOR Don
Smith lecls a gallery will put
Grlnnell on the map as one oi the
few towns iii Iowa with an art
museum at this type,

President Turner Speaks of the
arts in generpl, since they offer
alternate ways of perceiving and
knowing the world as “a
legitimate part of liberal artseas
legitimate as other kinds of Ems
tivities that take place on cam-
pus ,.

MORE SPECIFICALLY he sees
the opportunity oi special shows
relating to different disciplincs and
the opportunity of studying actual
works at close hand.

Cervene echocsi this when he
says, “Can you imagine holding a
Michelangelo drawing in your
hands? That’s greatl“

THE MATERIAL .\D-
VANTAGES of a permanent home
are apparent.

One of the only ways for a college
of Grinnell‘s capabilities to get
“masterpieces" is lrom donations.
As Turner says- “A college like
Grlnnell is never going to be able to
cut through with cold cash; the
only way to get tine Works of art is
if someone gives them to you.”

AS MARY VON Zellen, a
member of the Art Acquisition
Committee, points out, “People
aren’t going to donate unless they
know their works Will be safe"

If the collection is to continue to
grow as it has in the past, Grlnnell
needs a safe and climate controlled
space. Cervene adds, “There are
people who really like the idea oi
giving their works to a small, good,
liberal arts college in the Midwest
rather than having them sit in
some morgue in New York. They

Pop Art iii the president's oflice.

get into that " ,

ANOTHER ADVANTAGE that
Turner points out is that there are
a number of line travelling
exhibitions from such museums as
The Smithsonian Institution and
the Metropolitan in New York that
must bypass Grinnell because we
don't have minimum security
requirements.

This would include a space that
could be locked and a full time
guard. Turner adds that this guard
could be no more than a student
doing an independent study.

AS TO THE specifics: Goodnow
looks good.

Lion—is by far more suitable than
trying to do something with
recycling." Cervene feels that
there would be little difference
between the cost of renovating
Goodnow properly and building a
new space.

THAT BRINGS UP the crucial
issue—money, Any plans would
require lots of it. Some $500,000 or
the college’s 313,000,000
development hind has been
allocated to the problem of a new
space.

Both Turner and Cervene admit
that this figure, which was deter-

.mined in a very rough estimate

“Can you imagine holding

a Michelangelo drawing

in your hands? That’s great! ”

Fora number of reasons the
renovation of Goodnow Hall
seems to be the preferred plan of
attack. ‘

GOODNDW HAS certain
aesthetic advantages, It is the
oldest building on campus and it is
architecturally pleasing.

If restored to its original interior,
(it was once a library) it offers
ample space for shows, Goudnow is
close to the Fine Arts Center and
lies in a campus traitio pattern,
unlike its rival Mears Hall.

GOODNOW'S THICK brick walls
otter attractive possibilities for
climate control. Perhaps most
important, Goodnow is built. Said
Turner, “If you can get away
without adding a space~
beautiful.”

An alternate possiblity, of
course, is the building of a new
facilitv.CerVene would like to see a
free standing, modern building,
designed‘by a leading architect,

a year-andrarhalf ago, is modest.
Add to that the additonal ”SLOW
_trom the endowment (or main-
teTlche and it still doesn't amount
to very much.

ACTUALLY, THE college’s
development tund may be more a
pain than a help in the fund drive
for a museum, Until that
“albatross" as Turner calls it, is
clarified, he doesn’t think the
college can go ahead with an art
gallery. But Cervene wants action,
and now: “We are at a point now
where it is critical . . . it has to be
said and said so that the commit—
ment is understood by everyone
here, That has to be made clear.”

Turner maintains, though, that
an architect will be on campus
within a year to draw up plans for a
new structure in order to get the
ball rolling on an intensive funding
drive for the museum. No one
knows how long that might take
before an actual_space is ready for

 

He said, “In the long run having

, something completely new from
, the ground up-ydesigned for its funcﬁ

use. Until then, keep looking
around and catch what you can in
‘Grinnell's “museum without
walls.”

 

