On Feb. 16 the new university exhibition, "Objects of Desire," was unveiled in Old College.
The exhibit, a display of "Personal Passions: from Collecting to Display," was prepared by art history graduate students Lorena Baines, Dawn Morehouse, Ellery Foutch and history graduate student Emily Ruby - all of whom helped transfer and research the works.
Margaret Litt, a Philadelphia collector who could not be present because she is in a nursing home suffering from the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease, donated over 600 American and European works to the university.
Other donors include university staff member Barbara Stein of Public Relations, art history professor Salvatore Rosa and alumna Joan Marter.
Also on display were beautiful crystals of all shapes and colors - gifts to the Mineralogical Museum from David Byers.
Janis Tomlinson, director of exhibitions at the university, said the purpose of the exhibition is to show off recent gifts and display what has been given.
The university relies on gifts like these to add to its vast compilation of educational and historical collections, she said.
The paintings ranged from a dark, magical image of a red devil with its tongue out, to a famous lithograph of Eng and Chang Bunker, the original Siamese twins. Also on display was a lively, loud and colorful illustration of a couple doing the jitterbug.
One work in particular, "Liebe Mutter (Dear Mother)," which depicts a young German soldier writing on his drum, stood out to Tomlinson.
"It's very realistic and has sort of a mysterious history to it. Professors in Berlin didn't even know where it came from," Tomlinson said.
Second year Ph.D. candidate Lorena Baines said that her favorite artist in the exhibition was Sergei Bugaev, also known as Afrika.
"These are my favorite because they're so unique and they were the biggest adventure to research," she said.
Morehouse, a tour guide along with Baines, said although the majority of exhibit goers were art history professors and majors, students don't have to be art buffs to find something that will strike them in this exhibit.
"Gamekeeper's Cottage," a scenic picture of a county landscape, was also on display. "This painting is used as a visual for a writing option in a course taught by Dr. Stone," Morehouse said.
Tomlinson said she believes there is something educational and meaningful found within each work.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," she said. "There is something rich and worth learning about every single piece in the show."
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