The works in this exhibition are a small sample of the 4,000+ artworks that comprise the Carl Grupp Permanent Art Collection of the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery. As a part of Augustana University, the mission of the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery is to contribute to the educational and cultural vitality of the university, the surrounding community, and the state of South Dakota. The creation of a gallery that could serve art students and the greater community germinated with the arrival to Augustana in 1969 of art professor Carl Grupp (1939-2019). Grupp also established the permanent art collection, which began acquiring works of both regional artists, and also those of national and international repute, through purchases and donations. The collection became named for him in 2006, at the opening of the new Center for Visual Arts. Many of the works featured here are new acquisitions and make their debut in the gallery with this highlights exhibition.

Several of the exhibited works are by recognized “master” members of the collection: Marc Chagall, Winslow Homer, Käthe Kollwitz, Pablo Picasso and Carl Grupp, himself. All of the pieces were selected for the benefit of our current art students as teaching examples to complement their coursework.
Hence, the broad range of media, subject matter, and styles that are all in dialogue within the singular space of the Eide/Dalrymple Gallery. Such works reach across the centuries to delight and inform us, and serve as mentors who walk alongside our student artists as they work to establish their own artistic voices.