Art in everyday life

After the Thomas Hart Benton murals were displayed at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, they sat forgotten in a barn until Herman B Wells rescued them. They now adorn the walls of several campus buildings, including the IU Auditorium. \nThe murals were Wells' most famous art find, but not his only one.\nAn exhibit, "Living With Art: The Legacy of Herman B Wells," at the IU Art Museum will showcase the pieces he rescued or retrieved during his many travels from the 1930s until his death in 2000. \nThe exhibit starts Saturday.\n"Dr. Wells was, in a way, the patron saint of the arts in Bloomington," said Brian Kearney, director of development for the IU Art Museum. "He loved the arts and envisioned an excellent University-based art museum. Today the IU Art Museum is the best in the country." \nThe paintings, prints, watercolors, sculptures and furnishings on display were part of his donation to the IU Art Museum and the Campus Art Collection.\nThe exhibit contains art and furniture from his 10th Street residence, the Indiana Memorial Union and Woodburn House, which was his residence for many years while he was University president. Also of interest are small-scale versions of the "Birth of Venus" sculpture in Showalter Fountain and a working model of Alexander Calder's sculpture in front of the Musical Arts Center.\nAssociate professor James Capshew, who is writing a biography of Wells and who was one of Wells' houseboys, said Wells grew into a great love of art.\n"He was not a connoisseur. His taste in art developed over the years and was more of an emotional attachment." \nWhat started as an exploration to relieve stress developed into a taste for collecting antiques and works of art and resulted in a personal collection that tells the story of his wide-ranging taste and travels, from England to Southeast Asia and back to the hills of Brown County.\n"He thought of the entire campus as his home and wanted it to reflect the finest things of life that people had created. He appreciated art in all venues, settings and expressions," Capshew said. \nThe exhibit will include on-the-wall artwork and unusual works like gongs and sounding sculptures.\nKathleen Foster, the museum's curator of 19th and 20th century art, explained that as a small-town Indiana boy, Wells had an idea about university experience. The impact of art on his own life and the knowledge that many Hoosier students would not be able to travel the world, made him determined to bring the world to Bloomington, Foster said. \n"What impressed me the most," she said, "was the scope of his vision for the arts at Indiana University -- beginning with his notion of a 'Fine Arts Plaza' at the heart of the campus that would gather great musicians and performers, the treasures of the Lilly Library and the studios and galleries of the fine arts department. All in one central place." \nThe result, she added, is one of the greatest music schools in the world and one of the best university art museums in the country.\nWells believed art should be a part of everyday experience, and the exhibit is aimed to reflect that, Foster said.\nFoster said Wells' life was full of art.\n"He treated people as though they, too, were works of art, to be treasured and treated with kindness, courtesy and respect. He also lived with art; beautiful art chosen because he loved it and it enriched his life on a daily basis, adding to the civility, grace and poetry of his life," Foster said.\nIU Art Museum Director Adelheid M. Gealt said a special advisory committee was formed by the museum to help raise funds for the exhibit, gather ideas for programs and help raise awareness for the exhibit. The committee consisted of Wells' friends and colleagues and raised more than $25,000 in support of the show.\nThe exhibition runs from Saturday until Dec. 23.