In 1974, the UW-Madison Art Department and the Elvehjem Art Center (later the Elvehjem Museum of Art, now the Chazen Museum of Art) began a regular series of group art exhibitions showcasing the works of Art Department faculty. Occurring every four years, the exhibitions provided, and continue to provide, an opportunity for faculty to display their creative work to students and the community at large.

Each exhibition has been documented with a printed catalogue, and these catalogues are presented here in full-text online. The catalogues are a rich historical record, containing remarks by the museum director and department chair, photographs of faculty with statements and biography, and illustrated with photographs of the exhibited works themselves. From catalogue to catalogue, one can chart the evolving nature of the artists’ work, the department’s faculty, and the creative atmosphere of the UW-Madison campus.

For an even broader overview of the history of the Art Department from its inception, see Arthur Hove’s essay, Exploring Artistic Potential: An Informal History of the Department of Art, at pages 11-19 of the 1999 catalogue. Also see Hove’s essay: Taking Inventory: Women Faculty in the Art Department (reproduced here with permission of the author), which appeared in the Art Department Newsletter the following year.