Purdue University. Galleries

Dates

• Existence: 1920s - present
• Existence: 1978 - present

Biography

The Hoosier Salon started in 1925 as an annual art exhibition featuring works by Indiana artists. The Hoosier Salon’s early exhibitions were held in Chicago. The Hoosier Salon included Purdue Days, where Purdue alumni, faculty, and students would gather to view the art. J.E. Walters, director of the Memorial Union, took an interest in the exhibition and worked to bring the exhibition to the Memorial Union. In 1929 the Union held the Hoosier Salon Art Exhibit in the Union. This exhibition was sponsored by the Lafayette Art Association, the Memorial Union, and other local organizations. The exhibition was a success, and the Memorial Union continued to display selected works of the Hoosier Salon and other art exhibitions in subsequent years. Exhibitions were often displayed in the Music Room. An Art Committee of Union was formed to develop and oversee art display at the Union. Initial members of the Art Committee of Union included J.E. Walters (Union Director), Virginia C. Meredith (Board of Trustee member), and Edith Palmer (School of Home Economics). The success of the Memorial Union’s exhibitions led President Elliott in 1933 to create the Special Advisory Committee on Art Affairs to coordinate and cultivate art exhibitions throughout campus. The committee also oversaw Purdue’s permanent art collection. The first chair of the committee was Laurentza Schantz-Hansen, Head of Applied Design in the School of Home Economics. In 1957, the name was changed to the Committee on Promotion of Interest in the Visual Arts and in 1963 the name was changed again to the Visual Arts Committee. The Home Economics Building II later known as Matthews Hall, contained the Fine Arts Gallery overseen by the Visual Arts Committee. In 1972, a fire damaged the Fine Arts Gallery and destroyed most of Purdue’s permanent art collection.

In 1973, Robert Ringel became the dean of the School of Humanities, Social Science and Education (HSSE) which would later become the College of Liberal Arts. After becoming dean, Ringel worked on establishing Purdue Galleries as a permanent unit within the Department of Creative Arts. In 1978, Ringel hired Mona Berg as the first Director of Purdue Galleries. Berg was succeeded by Craig Martin in 2000 and Erika Kvam in 2022.

Ringel also worked on creating gallery spaces on campus. In 1974, Watson’s Crick Gallery opened in the Life Science building, room 1-125 and the Union Gallery opened in the Memorial Union. The launch of the new galleries coincided with a drive to rebuild Purdue’s permanent art collection lost in the 1972 fire.

In 1979, a new gallery was built in Stewart Center.

Purdue galleries also had exhibition/gallery spaces in Creative Arts Building I and Creative Arts Building II. These galleries were primarily dedicated to featuring student artwork. Other gallery spaces included Mechanical Engineering Gallery (1973-1975) and a tunnel under Grant Street and the Krannert Lobby.

In 2000, the Union Gallery reopened in the southeast corner of the Union and was renamed the Robert L. Ringel Gallery.

In 2003, the Pao (Yue-Kong) Hall of Visual and Performing Arts building opened as part of an initiative to consolidate visual and performing art groups on campus. A section of the Pao building was dedicated to the Patti & Rusty Rueff Galleries. The Rueff Galleries replaced the Watson’s Crick Gallery, Krannert tunnel gallery, Creative Arts Building I & II, and other exhibition spaces on campus.

In 2012, President Cordova decided to close the Robert L. Ringel Gallery. Plans to reopen the gallery in downtown Lafayette never came to fruition. The Stewart Center Gallery was renamed the Robert L. Ringel Gallery after the Memorial Union gallery was closed.

In 2024, a simi-permanent gallery was opened in the Memorial Union to display the Degas Art Collection.

Found in 2 Collections and/or Records: