Browse Exhibits (25 total)
Architecture in Art
According to Roman architect Vitruvius a good building should satisfy the three principles of firmaitas, utilitas, and venustas. An architect should try to fulfill these principles to the best of his or her ability. Originally translated as firmness, quality, and delight, in a more modern equivalent the three principles might be defined in a different way.
Durability: a structure is robust and in good condition.
Utility: it is suitable for the circumstances that it will be used.
Beauty: visually and aesthetically pleasing.
Architecture often is the backdrop within an artwork. This exhibit focuses on bringing the architecture of artwork to the foreground and describing the styles.
This exhibit takes a closer look at the architecture within the St. Catherine University's Fine Art Collection. This exhibit includes images of buildings and architectural structures such as bridges from around the world. Paintings, sketches, and sculptures all depict various architectural features.
Humanity in the Art of Clara Mairs
Clara Mairs, a Minnesota artist born in Hastings, MN in 1878 and a resident of St. Paul, MN at the time of her death in 1963, studied art at the Saint Paul Institute. She also studied abroad in Paris and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. While in Paris, she studied at the Academie Julian, the Academie Colarossi with E. A. Bourdelle, and at the Academie Montparnasse with Andre Lhote. Mairs, best known for her etchings, created an extensive body of work including prints, paintings, ceramics, and textiles. Her work routinely depicts women, children, animals, circus performers, and stories from the Old Testament, frequently with a hint of humor or satire. Mairs, an award winning print artist, has been exhibited in the United States and in Europe.
Been There, Dehn That
Though not necessarily a household name, Minnesota-born artist Adolf Dehn helped to catalyze some of the most important movements in American art, from Regionalism and Social Realism, to caricature. Most known for his work in lithography and printmaking, he traveled throughout the world, spending time in places like New York City, Paris, and Vienna, places that would shape the way he viewed the people and locations he would capture in his prints and drawings. Over the span of his life, from his birth in Waterville, Minnesota, in 1895, to his death in New York City in 1961, he created nearly 650 images, some of which are exhibited here.
St. Kate's Gems: Women artists envisioning Katies' qualities
At the heart of St. Kate's are active, creative, and socially engaged women. Eight strong, local artists have captured these values in their work, communicating what it means to be a Katie. This exhibit proudly offers these underrepresented artists a chance to continue shaping the campus and community of St. Kate's.
This exhibit showcases the gems of St. Kate's: influential local women artists and their work. Clara Mairs, Cecilia Lieder, Nancy Randall, Gemma Rossini Cullen, Sr. Mary Anne Catherine, Sr. Joanne Emmer CSJ, Corita Kent, and Jo Summonick are presented. The "gems" of St. Kate's are works that represent the values of faith, leadership, social teaching and inspiration, characteristic of the institution and its academic mission. Featured pieces are by artists working along these themes within specific subject matter: circus performance, flora, flight, and faith.
Marshall Plan Poster Contest
A selection of posters from the St. Catherine University collection. This exhibit places the posters into their historical context and examines the wider use of Marshall Plan propaganda in the late 1940s and early 1950s.
These posters were originally printed in 1950 as part of a contest promoting the European Recovery Program, better known as the Marshall Plan. Over 10,000 artists from 13 European Marshall Plan countries entered the contest, and the 25 winners were announced in May 1950. 13 of the winning posters are found in the St. Catherine University collections, including the first and second place winners ("All Our Colors to the Mast" and "Cooperation Intereuropeenne, Prosperite Intereuropeenne").
The poster contest was part of a wider publicity and propaganda campaign conducted at home and in Europe by the U.S. government and its European affiliates. The campaign aimed to raise awareness and support for the Marshall Plan in the wake of World War II, to promote goodwill toward economic recovery efforts, and to combat the rise of Communism and Communist propaganda.
To this end, the campaign used films, exhibits, traveling troubadors, pamphlets, radio, and most every form of media available to spread its message across Western Europe. It was largely successful, as was the Marshall Plan itself.
While we have no definitive information on how the posters came to the St. Kate's collection, we do know that in the summer of 1950 a group of students and faculty from St. Catherine University, including art professor Peter Lupori, traveled to Europe on an "American Youth Abroad" tour. The group visited many of the countries involved in the poster contest. The posters themselves were mass-produced and would have been in wide distribution around the continent in summer 1950. It is likely that they were purchased or otherwise obtained on this trip and brought back to the University.
Student Intaglios
This is a collection intaglios style prints made by the students of St. Catherine University that are housed in the Ann Jennings Student Art Archives that is part of the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery at St. Catherine University.
The intaglios are by various students and of various subject matter. The hope is to highlight some of the artistic abilities of St. Catherine University students over time. This collection has prints made from 1991-2005.
Intaglio prints are made by etching a print onto a piece of metal, like a stencile, either ething onto the metal or using acid to erod it. The print is made by inking the piece of metal and transfering it to paper. They are usually produced in black and white, although some are done in color. Evey print in this collection is black and white.
All copyrights lie with either St. Catherine University or with the individual artists.
Forests and Flowers: Works of Nature by Lieder, Dehn, and Mairs
A collection of artwork by Cecilia Lieder, Adolf Dehn, and Clara Gardner Mairs. More specifically, this collection is intended to establish a common thread between the works of Lieder, Dehn, and Mairs by displaying pieces that depict an overall theme of flowers or nature. The works of Adolf Dehn and Clara Gardner Mairs have been well-covered previously, but this digital collection strives to bring attention to certain pieces from these artists that may not be featured as often as others and relate to nature.
Minnesota Artists at St. Kate's
There are many great artists from the United States and abroad within the St. Catherine Fine Arts Collection; however it can be a great source of inspiration to see the work of local artists and the success that they've achieved. Thus, here we've collected the works of four Minnesota artists from within the collection: Gemma Rossini Cullen, Sister Joanne Emmer, Peter Lupori, and Sister Philomene McAuley. On each page you'll find greater discussion of their life and works, as well as the works themselves.
Browse the menu on the right to enter the exhibit.
Flowers and Nature in Art
For as long as humans have existed, we have created art. And for as long as we have created art, we have been creating art depicting nature. From cave paintings of buffalo hunts to Van Gogh’s infamous depiction of the view from his asylum room at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, we have always had the desire to cherish moments of our lives by preserving them within the long-lasting medium of the creative arts.
This exhibit intends to highlight an infinitely small number of those nature pieces created by humankind. From woodprints to ceramics to lithographs, this exhibit showcases the various mediums in which nature’s beauty can be displayed in a digital form. Each page highlights a different creator, their preferred medium, and their depictions of the nature environment in which they surrounded themselves.