Home — 1980 -- 1989 — 1985 – Albert Elsen works with the museum to open the B. Gerald Cantor Rodin Sculpture Garden

The arts have enjoyed a vital and dynamic presence on the Stanford campus since the University was founded, together with the Stanford Museum, over a century ago. Chronicled here is the history of that presence ─ a compelling story of permanent change and growth. At the same time, the assembled information and documents bring to light an underlying commitment to an education in and through the arts that has guided and informed the institution’s evolution throughout. Tradition and transformation go hand in hand.

Visitors to this site will find answers to a variety of questions:
What kinds of activities developed and increased as the various units and groups connected to the arts came into being and continued to evolve? How have those activities shifted their focus, and sometimes even their departmental affiliation, from one part of the university to another? When were the campus arts facilities constructed and how have they been used? Who have been the key personalities and groups involved?

What have been the landmark achievements? What are the broader themes and tendencies that are common to the myriad pursuits, constituting a Stanford tradition?

The Stanford Arts Initiative, which began in 2006, has energized the arts on campus in transformative ways: new buildings for the arts are being constructed, faculty positions and student stipends added, and curricular reforms enacted.

The Initiative formed part of the five-year campaign called The Stanford Challenge, a cross-disciplinary vision for the 21st century. The Initiative’s momentum is being sustained across campus, in particular through the work of the Stanford Arts Institute. By promoting collaboration and further integrating the arts into the fabric of university life, the university will continue to establish new connections among arts disciplines at the same time as it blurs the boundaries between the curricular and the extracurricular.

Discover here an enduring legacy in higher education: a mix of idealism and pragmatism, theory and practice, knowledge and invention, community service and individual discovery, excellence and innovation.

Denning Family Director of the Stanford Arts Institute

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The Arts Timeline was funded, created, and produced by the Stanford Arts Institute. Additional funding was generously provided by The Ben and A. Jess Shenson Funds at Stanford University.

Timeline team: Kathryn Dickason, Toni Gauthier, Stephen Hinton, Ashley Kennedy, Heidi Lee, Stav Ziv

We are grateful to the Special Collections and University Archives Department of Stanford University Libraries for permission to reproduce images from various collections, in particular the Historical Photograph Collection.

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32 years ago Catergory: 1980 -- 1989, Arts Spaces, Milestones, Visual Art

1985 Albert Elsen works with the museum to open the B. Gerald Cantor Rodin Sculpture Garden

Dubbed the “father of outdoor sculpture,” Albert Elsen brought to Stanford the B. Gerald Cantor Rodin Sculpture Garden — which to date is the largest collection of the artist’s work outside of Paris — as well as Stanford’s collection of contemporary outdoor sculpture by the likes of Alexander Calder and Joan Miro.

The Rodin expert received his B.A., M.A., and PhD from Columbia University, completing his dissertation on Rodin’s Gates of Hell, which later became the centerpiece of Stanford’s collection. A decorated professor and outstanding scholar, Elsen was appointed to the faculty of Stanford’s Department of Art in 1968, following years of teaching at Carleton College and Indiana University. He remained at Stanford, teaching until his death in 1995.

Elsen advocated against the unauthorized forgery of art, becoming a pioneer of art law and co-creating the first university course on art law — still taught at Stanford today. He was a key player in passing legislation to protect artists from hazardous materials and an early supporter of art studies in predominantly African American colleges. Elsen authored several oft-used textbooks such as Purposes of Art and Law, Ethics and the Visual Arts, in addition to serving as a contributing editor to ARTnews, president of the College Art Association, and organizer of exhibitions for world-renowned museums such as the National Gallery, the Guggenheim, MoMA, and LACMA.

Many of his graduate students became curators and directors at museums around the world, including Kirk Varnedoe, who was chief curator of painting and sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, 1988-2001.

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