College aims to catalog art on campus

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Philip Coleman pulled a framed print out of a stack of artwork, revealing a portrait of Pablo Picasso created by Salvador Dali. A number in the corner revealed that the print was the 189th of 200 of its kind.

"It's significant," he said, returning the piece to its spot in storage in the basement of Tower Hall on the Stephens College campus.

There are a lot of significant pieces of artwork in the college's collection. The thing is, many are being stored in locked rooms, long forgotten by college staff and hidden from public view.

Coleman, the husband of Stephens president Dianne Lynch, is on a mission to change that. He plans to spend the coming months locating and cataloging all of the artwork on campus, not only what's in storage but also pieces hanging on office and classroom walls. The idea isn't to sell anything, he said -- it's to create a complete database that lets the college know exactly what's in its art collection.

He has his work cut out for him. In the Tower Hall archives alone, there are hundreds of prints, drawings and paintings. Some are by well-known artists, such as the "War Theme" photograph of dancer Martha Graham taken by Barbara Morgan; a screen print of James Rosenquist's "Somewhere to Light" and a lithograph of cottonwood trees by Birger Sandzen.

Stephens has plenty of unsigned pieces, too, such as a large black-and-white painting of James Dean that's sitting in a first-floor storage room in the college library, likely created by a student or faculty member. The school also has other types of art, most of which is stored in boxes in a second-floor room in the library. Among the artifacts are porcelain dishes, stone figures and ceremonial masks from islands in the South Pacific.

Coleman will catalog all of the pieces, regardless of the medium or artist.

"It's not about: 'Do we have something or other?' Rather, it's a celebration of work we do have," he said. "Most of these things should be out."

Having an accessible database of the artwork should ensure that the pieces won't go missing in the future as some have in the past. Judith Clark, chairwoman of the English and creative writing department and a longtime faculty member, remembers some presidents who sold off art. Although some sold pieces to plug budget holes, others added or got rid of artwork based on their personal preferences.

"It wasn't public knowledge as to what was coming in or going out," she said.

Although he's in the early stages of the project, Coleman envisions bringing the artwork to a central location where he can identify, examine for damage and categorize each piece. He hopes eventually to form a group of interested faculty members and alumnae to prioritize the artwork and determine which pieces should be displayed on campus.

"The more I look at, the more nervous I am about going through all of this," Coleman acknowledged as he surveyed collections. "It's going to be a real adventure."