The Stanley Museum of Art at the University of Iowa has opened a new exhibition titled “In the Studio: Art at Iowa in the 1940s,” running from August 26, 2025 to January 25, 2026. The show features works by influential artists connected to the university’s arts program, including Grant Wood, Mauricio Lasansky, Philip Guston, Elizabeth Catlett, James Dallas Parks, and Hayward Oubre. Highlights include a rarely seen oil painting by Wood of a boy in football apparel, and an unfinished 1944 oil painting by Guston of his wife and daughter, originally displayed at the Iowa Memorial Union. The exhibition also traces the legacy of Lasansky, who founded the Iowa Print Group and elevated the university’s printmaking reputation.
The exhibition matters because it illuminates a pivotal decade in the University of Iowa’s art history, showing how a small group of artist-educators shaped a lasting culture of creativity and acceptance that continues to influence students today. By bringing together works from the 1940s, the show connects past artistic movements—such as Regionalism and mid-century printmaking—with the present-day identity of Iowa City as an artistic community. For current art students and local audiences, the exhibition offers a tangible link to the university’s artistic heritage and the enduring impact of its faculty.