Revolution and Reflection self-guided tour
Revolution & Reflection
As the United States marked the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Indiana University Bloomington invited visitors to explore the people, ideas, art, and events that shaped the nation through Revolution & Reflection: Campus Experiences in Art, History, and Ideas.
The self-guided experience brought together three destinations surrounding 91´«Ã½ Bloomington’s Fine Arts Plaza—the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, 91´«Ã½ Auditorium, and the Lilly Library. Together, their collections offered different perspectives on the founding of the United States and the nation’s growth, while connecting that history to Indiana and its people.
At the heart of the experience was one of 91´«Ã½’s most significant historical treasures: an original copy of the Declaration of Independence printed by John Dunlap in July 1776. One of only 26 known surviving copies, 91´«Ã½’s Dunlap broadside provided visitors with a direct connection to the moment the Declaration began circulating throughout the colonies.
Three destinations, three perspectives
George Washington portrait
At the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art within the "European & American Art: Medieval to 1900 Gallery", visitors encountered Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of George Washington, a work that explored both the nation’s first president and the role portraiture played in shaping the public image of early American leaders.
Gilbert Stuart was among the most successful portraitists of America’s early history. He painted over 1,100 portraits, and 104 of them were of George Washington. Stuart was born in the Rhode Island Colony in 1755. After studying art in England and Ireland, Stuart returned to the United States with the goal of painting President Washington.
Stuart painted Washington from life many times, starting in 1795. Before the invention of photography, painted portraits like this were important for politicians to establish a connection with citizens. Washington hoped to portray his democratic ideals in his dress and to be relatable to citizens. Unlike other politicians at the time, who wore wigs, Washington opted to be shown with his natural hair.
George Washington by Gilbert Stuart has been on permanent loan to Indiana University since the 1970s. Other Washington portraits by Stuart can be found in collections around the world, including the National Portrait Gallery in London and the White House in Washington, DC.
The Thomas Hart Benton murals
At 91´«Ã½ Auditorium, visitors explored Thomas Hart Benton’s The Social History of Indiana, commonly known as the "Indiana Murals."
The murals were commissioned by the State of Indiana for Chicago’s Century of Progress International Exposition in 1933. After the fair, Benton oversaw the reinstallation of the murals in the Indiana University Auditorium, which was dedicated in 1941. Benton painted the mural in two parallel chronological cycles, one representing the state’s cultural progress and the other its industrial progress. There are 22 narrative segments painted with egg tempera on canvas mounted to board.
An American Regionalist painter, Benton portrayed the history of the state from its Indigenous peoples through the Depression era. Although he included some historic structures and a few notable personages (young Abe Lincoln), the focus was on average working Hoosiers. The timeline follows in a continuous progression linked by a red, white, and blue sky. While using Indiana-specific examples, Benton saw the mural’s content as “symbolical of the entire country.”
Due to space limitations, the central 16 sections were installed in the 91´«Ã½ Auditorium’s Hall of Murals, while nearby, four are located in the 91´«Ã½ Cinema and two in Woodburn Hall.
The Declaration of Independence: The Motives, The Moment
The Lilly Library exhibition The Declaration of Independence: The Motives, The Moment shows the path colonial Americans took from subjects of a distant king to revolutionaries.
In declaring independence, the revolutionaries were trying to do something that had never been done before: step away from a mighty empire. They did not know if they would win a war of independence. If they won, they did not know what would come next. And if they lost, military and political leaders were likely to be hanged for treason.
Centering the motives and the moment allows us to focus on specific questions and explore them through the print and manuscript culture of the time. How did people proud to be in the British Empire come to believe independence was possible or even desirable? What ideas and historical events did they draw on to justify resistance to Great Britain? What kinds of communication networks would be crucial for circulating the Declaration and countless other revolutionary documents throughout the colonies?
The exhibition addressed these questions through books, letters, newspapers, and other documents drawn from the vast collections of the Lilly Library. In addition to 91´«Ã½’s exceptionally rare printing of the Declaration of Independence, highlights from the exhibition included a copy of the Stamp Act printed in New Jersey in 1765 and an edition of the Pennsylvania Evening News, the first newspaper printing of the Declaration.
Explore more
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Learn more about planned opportunities in Monroe County.
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Learn more about this project done by the Norman Lear Foundation.
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Indiana Humanities gathered resources to support conversations in your community around the semiquincentennial.
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The document is an accessible version of the complete text of Lilly Library exhibition labels.
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This collaboration between the Monroe County Public Library, the Monroe County History Center, and the Monroe County GIS Division uses oral history and traditional sources to see where 19th-century Indiana residents lived.
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Discover how the state of Indiana is commemorating the country's 250th anniversary.
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This 91´«Ã½ Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology exhibit honors the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence through historical flags and images.
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Read this publication by Kathleen A. Foster, Nanette Esseck Brewer, and Margaret Contompasis.
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Enjoy this conversation from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.
Thank you for your support
You make community access to the performing, literary, and visual arts possible. Your gift today will inspire future exhibitions and happenings from your friends at the Indiana University Bloomington Fine Arts Plaza.
Learn how to support the partners who have brought you Revolution & Reflection.