EXHIBITION OVERVIEW
This exhibition focuses on the expansive collection of works by Frank Lundahl (1858-1932) owned by the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art. Lundahl was born in Rock Island to Swedish-American parents and spent his life in the Quad Cities. A painter of religious and secular commissions for patrons, he still found time to create his own work, capturing the life of our region through landscapes, genres scenes and still lifes.
AUGUSTANA COLLEGE HERITAGE COLLECTION COMMUNITY PARTNER LOAN PROGRAM
Frank Lundahl's work is part of the Augustana Teaching Museum of Art's Heritage Collection, and as such can be lent out to community partners on long-term loan so that they can be shared with our larger Quad Cities community. This exhibition catalyzed interest in Frank Lundahl's work, and Augustana has shared these works with the community through installations at The Moline Foundation, Moline City Hall and the Safety Building in Rock Island.
COLLECTION RESEARCH
In preparation for this exhibition, I began to dig into the untold history of Frank Lundahl's work as a muralist and painter. This project extant murals by Lundahl in the First Lutheran Church in Moline, the Capitol Theater in Davenport, and stories of many others, now lost to time. In addition, it catalyzed a research project on a Crucifixion painted by Lundahl that was exhibited in over 60 department stores across 30+ states during the first decades of the twentieth century.