In 1966, the Huntington Museum of Art received a substantial grant from the Henry L. and Grace Rardin Doherty Foundation to expand its facility. Despite an initially frustrating search for an architect, the Museum was able to secure famed German-American architect Walter Gropius and his firm, The Architects Collaborative, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Gropius had built a career as a pioneering master of modernist architecture, but he was also a revolutionary educator. Nearly 50 years earlier, he founded the Staatliches Bauhaus (1919-1933), which became the 20th century’s most influential school of art and design. Located first in Weimar, Germany, the Bauhaus, under Gropius’s leadership, sought to unite art, craft, and technology in the idealistic project of designing a better world.
At the groundbreaking ceremony in Huntington in midsummer 1968, Gropius shared his transformative vision for the Museum’s expanded facility, which would soon feature an auditorium, library, and three studios, in addition to more gallery space. “It will be of incalculable value for Huntington and its neighboring towns to have at their disposal a greatly broadened institute – after these buildings will be finished – to pursue both the improvement of the historic knowledge of art as well as the artistic creativity of their own young generation for the cultural benefit of the whole community.” Gropius emphasized the value of educational workshops, and he closed by advocating “that such activities may flourish here under the stimulation of talented teachers and of great examples of works of art exhibited in this gallery.”
Gropius died in 1969, as construction began, but he left an enduring legacy at the Huntington Museum of Art.
The Walter Gropius Master Artist Program was initially funded through a generous bequest from the estate of Roxanna Y. Booth, who wished to support the development of an art education program at the Museum in accordance with the proposals of Walter Gropius. Her son, Alex E. Booth Jr., had been Chair of the Building Committee during the expansion and was very impressed by the determined and energetic architect. With Alex’s guidance, a concept was developed to provide opportunities to learn from nationally and internationally acclaimed artists.
Beginning in the spring of 1992 with a month-long residency by American painter Robert Cottingham, the Walter Gropius Master Artist Program evolved to be structured around three-day workshops, each accompanied by a public lecture by the visiting artist and an exhibition of the artist’s work. To further advance the careers of these artists and to enhance the Museum’s collection of contemporary art, a commitment was made to purchase a representative work by every artist in the program. In 2000, when the Museum hired Kathleen Kneafsey as a ceramic artist-in-residence to teach pottery classes, it made sense to begin selecting more artists who work with clay. The Museum has now hosted 144 contemporary artists, including most recently, Linda Nguyen Lopez, a sculptor of abstract ceramic art.
The phrase among others alludes to the egalitarian nature of an art workshop, where students learn theory and technique by working creatively alongside professional artists. These hands-on workshops were foundational to the Bauhaus art education model, and they are likewise a key component of the Museum’s many educational offerings.
With pride and distinction, the Huntington Museum of Art celebrates 35 years of the Walter Gropius Master Artist Program.
This exhibit is presented by the Booth Foundation.
This exhibit is presented with support from The Isabelle Gwynn and Robert Daine Exhibition Endowment.
This project is supported with financial assistance from the West Virginia Department of Tourism and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.
