Supporting Art: Family Donates $10M For UI Building

IOWA CITY, IA — A Muscatine family with connections to the University of Iowa has pledged $10 million toward the campagn to build a new University of Iowa Museum of Art to house the school's collection of more than 15,000 pieces. The gift comes from Richard and Mary Jo Stanley.

Richard Stanley, who died recently, received his master’s degree in engineering from Iowa in 1963. He and his wife have long supported the school, including previous donations to Hancher Auditorium and the UI College of Engineering. The university said in recognition of the transformational gift, the new art museum will be named in their honor.

“The Stanley family has made an indelible mark on our university — and on the art world — and we are proud to name the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art in honor of their gift,” University of Iowa President J. Bruce Harreld said in a news release. “Today, our university is stronger because of the Stanleys. With Dick’s recent passing, the university has lost one of our strongest advocates and supporters. He will be greatly missed.”

The building will begin construction in 2018 with an expected completion and opening in 2020.

The school has one of the country’s leading university art collections, but has not had a permanent home since the Floods of 2008 destroyed the previous museum. Much of the collection was moved to the Figge Art Museum in Davenport ahead of the flooding. Some pieces can be seen at the school's Memorial Union, while others are traveling on loan to other museums.

A portion of the Stanley donation came from the estate of Dick Stanley’s parents, C. Maxwell and Elizabeth Stanley, who developed one of the country’s most well-respected collections of African art and donated it to the museum in 1985, the university said in its news release.

“The decision to name the museum in the Stanleys’ honor is particularly appropriate; their generous monetary pledge ... comes on top of a multi-decade array of family sculptural donations that are the heart of the university’s 2,400-piece African collection,” said Jim Leach, interim director of the UI Museum of Art.

C. Maxwell Stanley earned a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in engineering from Iowa in 1926 and 1930, respectively; Elizabeth Stanley earned a bachelor’s degree in education there in 1927.

The museum project is the final structural recovery on the UI campus in the aftermath of the 2008 floods. The $50 million, 63,000-square-foot museum will host exhibitions from the museum’s collection and provide space for study, research, and storage of artwork.

Museum construction will begin in 2018, with a planned public opening in 2020. Funding for construction will come from a mix of private support and bonds. The university can't exhibit art collections in the former building due to its proximity to the Iowa River and related insurance limitations, but since the building remains structurally sound, it did not qualify for FEMA funding for repairs.

Photo courtesy of University of Iowa, design by bnim