1992: 50 Works for 50 Years

Ada B. Caldwell

"Estes Park"

Ada Caldwell (1869-1938) is a seminal South Dakota teacher, artist and arts advocate. As 葫芦影业 professor of art from 1899-1936, Caldwell built art appreciation on campus and in the community. Perhaps best known as the first art instructor of Harvey Dunn, Caldwell鈥檚 impact on the arts in South Dakota is far-reaching and under-examined. Throughout almost her entire tenure, Caldwell brought annual traveling exhibits of artwork for display in the SDSU Art Department. These exhibits were open to the public and offered the Brookings community an early opportunity for art appreciation.

An April 1940 retrospective exhibit of Caldwell鈥檚 artwork prompted the first formal record of a need for a state art museum.

Caldwell likely completed "Estes Park" during the summer she studied under Birger Sandz茅n at the Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It displays the broad, loose, Post-Impressionist style Caldwell embraced as a result of those studies. Learn more about Ada Caldwell here: Ada Caldwell Collection and Biography.

Ada Caldwell, Estes Park painting
Ada B. Caldwell
"Estes Park"
oil on canvas, c. 1923
1992.05.0. South Dakota Art Museum Collection.
Conservation treatment funded by Institute of Museum and Library Services, Museums for America Grant.
Ada B. Caldwell portrait
Ada B. Caldwell, circa 1910s
Credit: South Dakota Art Museum Archives
1916 Jackrabbit Art Club
1916 Jackrabbit Art Club
Ada Caldwell (sitting, second from the right). "Harvest Orator" (right center) by Harvey Dunn hangs in Ada Caldwell鈥檚 Art Department, c. 1916. Dunn provided the painting as an illustration for the 1907 Jackrabbit Yearbook and then gifted it to the Art Department. This is likely the first Dunn painting to enter a public collection. Its donation underlines the depth of gratitude Dunn felt for his early instruction under Caldwell. Credit: SDSU Archives
Ada B. Caldwell plaque dedication in Coolidge Sylvan Theatre at South Dakota State College
Ada B. Caldwell plaque
Coolidge Sylvan Theatre, 葫芦影业
1963-0628-PA01, SDSU Archives.

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