Gift of 74 bronzes finds home in dedicated gallery in the Purdue Memorial Union. Plus, Purdue and Election Board close in on an on-campus site for voting, after criticism mounts.
Today’s edition is sponsored by the Wabash Area Lifetime Learning Association in recognition of National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. Better known as WALLA, the association provides educational, social and cultural opportunities for adults in Tippecanoe County and beyond. The brochure for the Fall Session 2024 classes is now available online at wallaonline.org. Check out the trips, tours and events on Facebook, and you are invited to join WALLA for a social coffee hour at 11 a.m. on the first Friday of each month at Starbucks in the West Lafayette Pay Less.
PURDUE’S NEW DEGAS GALLERY COLLECTION OPENS
The Degas Gallery, a specially fitted space in the Purdue Memorial Union for a collection of 74 bronzes donated in 2022, debuted during an opening reception Tuesday, before public exhibit hours are scheduled to start Wednesday.
The instant reviews from the rows of clear cases containing impressionist Edgar Degas’ work in the remade Sagamore Room?
“I can barely believe this is here,” said Joyce Carson, a Purdue alum who wound up at Tuesday’s opening as a surprise plus-one. “I can barely believe I’m here. … I can’t wait to come back and take my time and really study everything.”
(Photo: Dave Bangert)
The collection came from Avrum Gray, a 1956 Purdue mechanical engineering alum and art collector from Glencoe, Illinois. The centerpiece is a casting of “La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans (The Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen),” a signature sculpture among impressionist Degas’ work that’s placed prominently near the entrance of the new gallery.
Valued at $21 million, the collection is the single largest gift in the College of Liberal Arts history.
“I dare say, this afternoon here and now, we complete the soul of Purdue University,” Purdue President Mung Chiang said during the opening. “We have this anchor manifestation of art in its full glory.”
Former Purdue President Mitch Daniels, who was among those who fielded Gray’s initial conversations about giving the collection to the university, compared the new presence of the Degas works on a STEM-based campus to the considerable collection of Auguste Rodin’s sculptures displayed on Stanford’s campus in Palo Alto, California.
“They were the beneficiary, years ago, of a parallel gift,” Daniels said. “And I remember asking about it and realizing at the time, yes, of course, that's not anomalous. That's not somehow out of place. It's essential to the character of a genuine, excellent research university, particularly one that has long suits in science and engineering, information sciences and those things. It’s not only in keeping, it’s absolutely essential.”
Gray told about how he’d gone through his Purdue years with a necessarily heavy load of engineering coursework, only taking a handful of liberal arts classes. He said the came to the arts after he was gone from school, building a collection of works during his 30 years at Alloy Consolidated Industries, including time as chief executive for the Chicago company, and later when he founded G-Bar Limited Partnership, an independent options trading firm.
Gray also told about large pieces he came across by Fernando Botero (“Standing Woman”) and Lynn Chadwick (“Two Seated Figures”) that he could have kept at home, but instead thought they were better off as part of the sculpture tour on the grounds of Ravinia music festival in Chicago.
“Now, instead of a few people being able to come to your house and see art, thousands of people at every concert can come view the art and enjoy,” Gray said. “In my years at Purdue, I was focused on mechanical engineering, but it is different today. And with this collection, people will be able to broaden their scope of life. Purdue has given me the ability to have a wonderful life, and I’m delighted to be able to give back.”
The story goes that when Gray invited Purdue Galleries staff to his home near Chicago, he had the casting of “The Little Dancer” in his front room. (At the time, Erika Kvam – Purdue Galleries director, who oversaw development of the Degas Gallery – said, “It’s difficult to accurately convey the overwhelming excitement I felt at the idea that they were coming to West Lafayette.”) Gray’s point then: “Why wouldn’t you want to be where you could see it all the time?”
Avrum Gray (Photo: Dave Bangert)
In 2023, Gray told the story in an interview with Based in Lafayette, about how he came to own the Degas collection and the motivation to be sure it could be seen. Here’s part of that:
Gray said he and Joyce, his late wife, began collecting art early on, focusing on sculptures and works on paper from the masters and artists they liked.
“Because when I started out, I couldn’t afford oils,” Gray said. “I was a starting-out engineer, what could I do?”
He said they enjoyed visiting museums and art dealers when they traveled. And their collection grew. He said they bought pieces they knew they’d want to be around, displayed in their home, instead of works that were considered important. Often the two intersected, but art they’d want to take in and absorb every day was the point, Gray said.
Gray said that about 14 years ago, he received a call from Walter Maibaum, an art dealer he’d met in New York who was piecing out a collection of Degas bronzes. Was he interested in any of them? Gray said he didn’t know much about Degas at the time. But the Milwaukee Art Museum was having a show with a nearly complete set of Degas bronzes, so he and Joyce made the one-hour drive north to learn more.
Degas, who died in 1917, was among the most important early modern/impressionist artists, working primarily in paint and pastel, Arne Flaten, a professor of art and head of the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Design, Art and Performance at Purdue, said. Degas’ studies of Parisian dancers in the late-19th century and early-20th century are familiar, Flaten said, but his sculptures were less known – with the exception of “The Little Dancer.” (For more on Edgar Degas and “Little Dancer, Aged Fourteen,” here’s an explainer and history from the National Gallery of Art.)
Gray said that squared up with what he was learning on the trip to Milwaukee.
“I’m there with a pencil and paper, marking down the ones I like,” Gray said.
(Photo: Dave Bangert)
He said he bought five pieces from Maibaum, distributing one each to three children for their homes and two for his home.
Not long after, Gray said Maibaum called with an opportunity for a large collection of Degas bronzes, eventually offering “The Little Dancer” that came from a plaster cast discovered around the beginning of the 21st century in the Valsuani Foundry in Chevreuse, France. Maibaum, writing a history and analysis for a 2021 exhibition of Degas pieces, wrote about how 74 sculptures in plaster, unknown to art historians at the time, were found in a locked room and authenticated in the ensuing years as plasters that had been made near the end of Degas’ life or shortly after he died to preserve original waxes the artist made.
Gray’s collection came from the plasters found at the Valsuani Foundry. Most of the pieces are under 24 inches.
The original wax of “Little Dancer,” from 1881, is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. According to the National Gallery of Art, “Little Dancer … the only sculpture that (Degas) would ever exhibit in public, … has become one of the most beloved works of art, well known through the many bronze casts produced from this unique original statuette, following the artist's death.”
“So, now what am I going to do with 73 pieces of beautiful sculptures?” Gray said.
Gray said he considered splitting the Degas collection among his children. But he thought the value and the beauty of the collection was as a set. And he said he thought that would leave his kids with similar questions about what to do with a collection they couldn’t display on their own.
“I was the one acquainted with them,” Gray said. “I needed to be the one who got this done.”
He discussed options with large museums, but he said he didn’t like the idea of the collection being relegated to storage except for retrospectives once every 10 years. “That didn’t appeal to me,” Gray said.
“At Purdue, I took four years mechanical engineering, and I think I had, at that time, three liberal arts courses – or maybe four – that you could take as elective,” Gray said. “Everything else was engineering, right? As I talked to Purdue, and one thing led to another, it just, to me, felt that you should expose the engineers to a whole other side of life. And the folks at Purdue were excited. Purdue, it was.”
If you go: Starting Wednesday, the Degas Gallery, in Room 231 of the Purdue Memorial Union, will be open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays and by appointment on weekends. For more information, here’s a link.
(Photo: Dave Bangert)
PURDUE, ELECTION BOARD COMMIT TO FIND ON-CAMPUS VOTING SITES AFTER CRITICISM MOUNTS
Purdue officials said Tuesday they were looking for second chance to plant a polling place on the West Lafayette campus, after an initial list of vote centers on Election Day and during early voting included none at the university.
The move came after a wave of questions in recent days asking whether Tippecanoe County election officials and Purdue had done enough to offer convenient access to polls for those registered to vote locally among the university’s 55,000-plus students.
“University leadership is working in conjunction with the county election board and pledges any and all resources to identify appropriate voting sites so that the Purdue community has the best opportunity to participate in the election process,” Trevor Peters, a university spokesman, said Tuesday.
Mike Smith, a county election office staff member in charge of lining up vote centers, said Tuesday that he’d been in contact with university officials, including Provost Patrick Wolfe, about finding a suitable, on-campus location for a vote center.
Smith said he expected to make an announcement yet this week about a campus site, as well as a polling place in Lafayette’s north end to take early voting ahead of the Nov. 5 Election Day.
“We went through all the issues and they seemed really ready to get this done,” Smith said. “It looks like something going to happen. … We were always open to it.”
The Tippecanoe County Election Board voted on Aug. 15 to set up 15 Election Day vote centers and nine early voting sites, starting Oct. 8. Smith said in recent days that the county looked to work through logistics, including getting state-required dedicated and secure connections for voter registration data, with Purdue and suggested various sites on campus – Elliott Hall of Music and the Purdue Armory, among them – without getting the university to commit before the Election Board vote.
After reporting in the Purdue Exponent and Based in Lafayette outlined the situation and gauged some of the mounting criticism – including accusations of voter suppression and other optics of not having campus polling options – the university started making moves this week.
“Purdue fully supports the selection of voting sites that serve the best interests of the full Tippecanoe County community, as determined by the Board of Elections and Registration,” Peters said. “The board has already provided great options for the community in its announced vote centers. Purdue is working with the board to further supplement this list of choices by making various Purdue sites, including the Armory and Recreational Sports Center, available for further consideration by the board.”
Peters said details were expected “in the coming days.”
Tippecanoe County uses a vote center system that allows voters to go to any polling place in the county to cast a ballot, rather in their home precincts.
The Election Board, citing difficulties in finding suitable places to vote as it had in the past on campus, settled for an Election Day vote center at West Lafayette City Hall – about three blocks from the eastern edge of campus – and five hours of early voting on Oct. 22 at First United Methodist Church, a half-mile west of the university’s residence halls on Mitch Daniels Boulevard.
For more on the history of campus polling places, as well reactions to this year’s situation, here’s an account from Monday’s Based in Lafayette:
IN THE PURDUE MEMORIAL UNION TIME CAPSULE
What did they recover from a lock box time capsule, placed at the Purdue Memorial Union when the building opened in 1924 as a tributed those from the university who died during World War I?
(Photo: Dave Bangert)
The contents were on display during a ceremony Tuesday to mark the 100th anniversary of the Union. Among the items:
A list of students who fought in World War I
A list of students who died in World War I
The Purdue Memorial Union constitution
A history of the Purdue Memorial Union
A report of student activities at the Union
A list of the 7,020 subscribers to the Building Fund for the Union
A catalog of courses at Purdue for 1921-22
A copy of the Purdue Alumnus reporting on the groundbreaking of the Union
A list of workers on the Union site
Copies of the Purdue Exponent
A new time capsule will be place, set for 2124. Among its contents:
Copies of the Purdue Exponent, reporting on 100th anniversary events at the Union
Books related to the Union’s history
Bios of Purdue Student Union Board members
Keychains, magnets and other swag related to the Union
Menus from current restaurants at the Union, including 8Eleven Bistro and Walk-Ons
“We were really conscious about putting things in there that were kind of signs of the times for the Union,” Zane Reif, senior director at the Purdue Memorial Union, said.
Thanks, again, for sponsorship help from the Wabash Area Lifetime Learning Association, celebrating National Adult Education and Family Literacy Week. To learn more about WALLA and a brochure for the Fall Session 2024 classes, check out wallaonline.org.
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How are we going to learn about voting issues and all that when Dave hangs up his notebook holster for the last time? Teaching the kids to vote is great, but some of them need to become experienced journalists to show the way. For today, I'm grateful that Dave is lousy at retiring!
Thank you for the voting center updates, Dave! Happy this is getting enough exposure to incite change.
How are we going to learn about voting issues and all that when Dave hangs up his notebook holster for the last time? Teaching the kids to vote is great, but some of them need to become experienced journalists to show the way. For today, I'm grateful that Dave is lousy at retiring!