Wichita State University - Parnassus Yearbook (Wichita, KS)

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CKNIC-SHI' ART .gt ,glrjfy-is .n... -Hifi . An extraordinary art museum open- ed at Wichita State University December 7, 1974. ln a lavish ceremony that inau- gurates a new era in art at WSU, a surprising collection of distinguished art works ranging from sculpture to photo- graphic exhibitions was unveiled for the first time. The small, but versatile museum was named the Edwin A. Ulrich Museum of Art to honor a 76-year-old Hyde Park, New York businessman and art con- noisseur who donated over 300 paintings to the University collection. The gift represents the,largest and most complete collection of the works of American painter Fredrick J. Waugh, and is valued at over S1 million. The museum is aesthetically linked to a larger academic facility to the west with glassed-in walkways on two levels and is joined to an existing art building to the north. The public gallery and sculpture court provides 7,600 square feet of space. lt is open to the public. The entire complex is known as McKnight Art Center, a multi-use fac- ility initiated in 1969 with a gift from the estate of Eva McKnight, a member of a prominent pioneer Wichita family. The opening of the Ulrich Museum of Art resurrects a university gallery program which was nearly wiped out when the old art building burned to the ground in 1964. More amazing than the building, however, is the university art collection. In three years, under the direction of Dr. Martin H. Bush, 47, an astute, primly dressed wizard of art and re- source collecting, a modest handful of paintings was parlayed into a bulging portfolio of more than 2,400 art works valued at nearly S3 million. Nearly 53.4 million worth of art- representing some of the best paintings, sculpture, prints and photographs in the collection A were on display opening day. Dr. Bush, a New York native, came to WSU from Syracuse University, where he rounded up S8 million in contribu- tions. Serving as Vice-President of

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included such buildings as Morrison Hall, Jardine and lVlcKinley. In combination, the building masses formed a 'Y' oriented on the east-west axis. Except for a few instances, the buildings comprising the 'Y' appear to have been designed for individual settings. A major problem resulting from the development of the east-west campuses is a lack of unity. Recent action taken to close Yale and plans for development have led to the establishment of psychological, visual and physical continuity. The plan- ned pedestrianfvehicular corridor, the plazas and quadrangles, and the vistas thus provided, are some of the means by which the entire campus can be in- tegrated. W.: fs-ii'- ' ' X

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CENTER Academic Resource Development, he im mediately sparked hopes that he would accomplish the same magic at WSU. He did. An accomplished historian, writer and art collector, Bush has won the respect and friendship of scores of the great artists and collectors in the country. The list of names in the collection reads like the index of an all history text. There are works by Moses Soyer, Frank Stella, lVlax Weber, Robert Good- nough, Doris Caesar, Alexander Archipenko, Isabel Bishop and many more. Bush speaks the languages of art. Despite a minuscule art acquisition bud- get, he successfully coaxed scores of well-known artists and collectors into contributing to the WSU collection. Others were obtained for a fraction of their real value. The dimension of the WSU collecf tion has swelled to 582 paintings C408 oilsl, as well as 1,086 prints and 305 sculptures. One of Bush's proudest accomplish ments was the donation of 47 individual art works of Ernest Trova, American sculptor made famous for his Falling rlVlan series, giving WSU probably the largest collection of Trova art in the United States. One example of Trova art stands outdoors east of the Life-Science build- ing as part of the now familiar univere sity outdoor sculpture collection. It is Profile Canto lV-A, an immense Cor-ten steel sculpture in the Falling lVlan series. The number of outdoor sculptures now numbers nine with the addition of Louise NeveIson's Night Tree, located in the center area of Fairmount Drive, near NlcKnight Art Center Other acquisitions include Kenneth Armitage's Nlouton Variation, Figure lArchaean Ill by Dame Barbara Hepworth, Teddy Boy 81 Girl ll, by Lynn Chadwick, Grand father's Horse, by Chicago artist John Kearney, Daedalus a 26 bronze head by Charles Grafly, Two Lines Oblique Down-a kinetic sculpture by George Rickey and Happy Mother by Austrian born Chaim Gross An unprecedented schedule of 31 exhibitions is planned lor the first year of the museum. Already, such painters as Fredrick Waugh, the outstanding American marine artist, German painter Kathi: Kollwitz, whose works portrayed the plight of the poor and oppressed, and Wayne Thiebaud, one of Americzfs first pop art painters have been exhibit, erl