Revealing the stories behind IU's iconic art

Most of the iconic pieces of art on campus today are relatively new and many actually caused a bit of controversy upon their installation.

At the 1961 dedication of Showalter Fountain, President Herman B Wells said, “Indiana University has long been outstanding in the sciences and in the professions. Yet it remembers its ancient foundation upon the classics ... we proudly reaffirm our belief in the importance of the arts and the life of the spirit.”

Today, as students watch the lights dance on the side of the IU Art Museum, take a dip in the Showalter Fountain or snap a picture with Wells’ statue, the art seems like a natural part of the landscape.

Sherry Rouse, the curator of campus art for all of IU’s campuses said she is in charge of a database that contains roughly 30,000 pieces of art, all of it important to the IU environment.

“I think, in fact, all the artwork that students come to live and work around ... helps their educational process,” she said. “It becomes part of their lives. Almost every student, every graduate that I’ve ever talked to has a favorite piece ... It not only beautifies the world around us but is also meaningful.”


The Birth of Venus

According to the IU archives, in 1939 IU’s primary architects, Eggers and Higgins, proposed a fine arts plaza that would bring together the four art forms of music, sculpture, painting and drama.

Herman B Wells, who was president at the time, and Ward Biddle, the first director of the Indiana Memorial Union, advocated for a fountain in the middle of the plaza that would represent the role of the arts and humanities on campus. The first plan for the fountain included four seated figures made out of Indiana limestone.

“They were trying to unify that area ‘cause it really was where the arts and humanities kind of originated. Ballantine was one of the first buildings where the humanities were going on ... there were a lot of things they wanted to connect,” said graduate student Bethany Fiechter, the curator for the “Showalter Fountain: The Venus of Indiana University” exhibit currently on display in the IU Archives reception area on the fourth floor of the Wells Library.

In the 1950s, fine arts professor Robert Laurent went on sabbatical leave two different times to Rome in order to build the “Birth of Venus.”

The first time he constructed a miniature version of the piece that went on display at the IU Art Museum.

Laurent then went back to Rome to create Venus and the five dolphins and shipped them back to the U.S. via boat.

In doing this, Laurent was influenced by famous Italian artists like Botticelli and also utilized an Italian bronze-casting technique in the creation of the piece.

Additionally, by making “The Birth of Venus” in Rome, Laurent was able to do so for a fraction of what it would have cost in the U.S., Fiechter said.

Despite its ancient origins in Greek mythology, Laurent’s piece proved to be too provocative for many.

“People thought that having a big naked woman in the middle of campus was pretty risky in the ‘50s when they put it up,” Rouse said.

Herman B Wells Memorial Statue

The origins of many of IU’s works of art can be traced to a single person: Herman B Wells. Thus, it seems fitting that Wells himself has become immortalized on campus in statue form.

“There was a group of people ... and they wanted a Dr. Wells presence on campus that was friendly and approachable, they wanted him to be seen because of his greatness,” Rouse said. “It’s interesting today how much people touch him, and sit with him and talk to him. I can’t tell you how much interaction there is with that sculpture. It keeps me busy keeping his finger re-patinated.”

What could be more lighthearted than a statue of the beloved Wells?
Just look under the brim of his hat.

The artist, Tuck Langland, did his undergraduate work at the University of Minnesota, so when he created the statue he included a hidden inscription.

On underside of the brim of Wells’ hat is the inscription “IU vs Minnesota Oct 12 2000. Go Gophers.”

Rouse said that the University didn’t know about the inscription beforehand, but that it just adds another dimension of lightheartedness to the jovial statue.

“I questioned his wife about it,” Rouse said, “and she said, ‘Yes, Tuck thought Dr. Wells would get a kick out of it.’”

Peau Rouge Indiana

Don’t let the French name fool you.

When translated, the name of this piece becomes “Indiana red skin,” which artist Alexander Calder intended as a jab at the state of Indiana.

“He named it that pretty much to poke fun at the (idea of the) Indiana red skin because we don’t have any Native Americans here anymore,” Rouse said. “So we decided, when it got here, to keep it in French so nobody would really know that he was making fun of us.”

Although the piece was designed specifically to go in front of the Musical Arts Center, it was actually built thousands of miles away in Paris. The sculpture was then disassembled, shipped to Bloomington and reassembled in its current location.
“Peau Rouge” was the last stabile that Calder ever designed. He died in 1976.

According to an IU press release from 2008, in the 1980s then-IU President John Ryan sent a plane to pick up paint for the sculpture, which was in the process of being restored.

The reason? A dinner was scheduled at the MAC before the Oaken Bucket game and the primer on the statue was too close to Purdue gold for Ryan’s comfort.

Light Totem


Built as a temporary fixture to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the IU Art Museum, a renowned structure by architect I.M. Pei, the Light Totem paints with light, using the museum’s wall as a canvas.

“It’s fun having a palate that’s the size of a building,” said Robert Shakespeare, a professor of lighting design in the Department of Theatre and Drama, who designed the piece.

Even though it’s only 3 years old, the Totem has quickly become an on-campus fixture.
“What bemuses me is when I walk down that section of campus at night ... there’s typically a small gathering of students ... It seems to be a place where if somebody’s walking by they’ll pause for a minute or two. Like a campfire,” Shakespeare said.

Originally the Light Totem was only planned to be in place for a few months. A few months grew into a full year and then, as it won charm, it stayed even longer.

Currently, the IU board of trustees is in the process of making it a permanent fixture because it has yet to be made permanent.

Rouse said when the piece was first erected, there were some people who questioned the environmental impact of a giant pole of light.

However, Shakespeare said, it uses LED light sources so the entire system uses no more energy than the street light that stood in the light sculpture’s place prior to 2007.
Shakespeare, who also programs the lighting sequences for the piece, said the programs are based on two- to three-minute segments, each of which are in a particular sequence to tell a particular story.

Shakespeare said he thinks the mesmerizing jewel tones of the piece make the campus beautiful, even at night.

A few days before the grand opening, Shakespeare said a man came by with a little girl as he was testing the piece out.

“She just stood there staring at it and all her comment was: ‘It’s magic daddy, it’s magic.’ I think people enjoy a little sparkle in their lives.”

Indiana Arc

Built to honor former IU President Tom Eurlich and his wife Ellen, the Indiana Arc uses the basic shape of an equilateral triangle, the same shape upon which architect I.M. Pei based the IU Art Museum, Rouse said.

According to his Web site, the Indiana Arc falls in line with most of Charles O. Perry’s works. He often blends the complexities of math and science with the beauty and grace of art.

Although it uses a triangle for its basis, the Indiana Arc is curvilinear and utilizes the artful interplay of solids, voids, edges and planes.

Perry’s modern views on art were not always appreciated within the Bloomington community.

“Any thing that’s as modern as Peau Rouge Indiana or the Indiana Arc had many critics. And yet, now, they have become quite beloved,” Rouse said.