The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Arts February 11, 2005

Don’t forget about Art Rental – today!

The art rental program was the brainchild of Ellen Johnson, who worked at Oberlin College as an art librarian and later as professor of modern art. In addition to her academic roles, Johnson formed close bonds with contemporary artists of the 1960s and 1970s such as Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol and Robert Morris. She also taught one of the first ExCo classes and owned and lived in the Frank Lloyd Wright house for many years. Her support for the arts was surpassed only by her love and support of her students and her commitment to enhancing their quality of life. To this end, Ellen Johnson began the art rental program.

She recounted,“Early on in my library days, in 1940, I believe, it occurred to me that if students could have works of art in their dormitory rooms it would not only develop their aesthetic sensibilities but might encourage ordered thinking and discrimination even in other areas of their lives.

“I was given $700 to purchase and frame reproductions of art masterpieces. So began one of the earliest, if not first, college art rental collections in the country. Gradually, over the next decades, the reproductions were replaced completely by originals.... For many years at $.25, and even now only five dollars, a student could hang in his or her room for a whole semester Toulouse-Lautrec’s “Jane Avril Dancing,” a watercolor by Diebenkorn, a drawing by Eva Hesse or a print by Matisse, Johns, Dine or one of five by Picasso.”

The legacy of the art rental program continues to this day because of the integrity and respect of Oberlin College students. Commitment to the maintenance of the ideals Ellen Johnson set forth has ensured the success of the art rental program for more than 60 years and guarantees that the program will continue in the future.
 
 

   

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