Located on a 650-acre plateau on the Mississippi River, LSU is the flagship university in the state system and a major research institution. Its campus, widely regarded as one of the most beautiful in America, comprises some 250 buildings. The main campus was designed in the 1920s by the Olmsted Brothers, with a mall-like quadrangle reminiscent of the University of Virginia and built up with Beaux Arts-inspired architecture set amidst the lush foliage of oak and magnolia trees.
The Art History Program occupies offices and classrooms in two buildings. Its central facility is the modern Design Building (1983), by the firm of Barron, Heinberg, and Brocato of Alexandria, Louisiana. It features a large 3-story indoor atrium where students can meet for coffee and view informational exhibitions. Next door, the red brick Art Building (ca. 1920) reflects the historical character of the campus and houses additional art history faculty offices as well as headquarters for the School of Art. Adjacent to these buildings are landscaped outdoor study areas and the spacious, tree-shaded Sculpture Park, which features rotating displays of outdoor sculpture by faculty and regional artists.
Additional research and exhibition facilities located on campus and throughout Baton Rouge include the following:
Visual Resources Library The Visual Resources Library, or VRL, is the College of Art and Design’s center for the acquisition and dissemination of classroom and research images. It contains some 150,000 slides and 100,000 digital images of works of art, architecture, interior design, and landscape architecture
Middleton Library Middleton Library, centrally located on campus, is one of the premier libraries in the South, housing a collection of almost three million bound volumes and microform holdings of more than four million items.
LSU Museum of Art at the Shaw Center for the Arts The LSU Museum of Art is located in downtown Baton Rouge in the Shaw Center, a performing and visual arts center with 125, 000 sq. ft. of theaters, galleries, classrooms, and rental space, opened in March 2005. The Shaw Center was designed by Schwartz/Silver Architects of Boston in collaboration with the New Orleans-based Eskew+Dumez+Ripple and Jerry M. Campbell & Associates of Baton Rouge. The LSU Museum, founded in 1962, was long housed on campus in LSU's Memorial Tower. It began as a significant collection of American and British portraiture, furniture, and decorative arts. Since then it has expanded with acquisitions that concentrate on both Louisiana's culture and artistic heritage, and global art and culture. The museum now occupies the top floor of the Shaw Center, with 15,000 sq. ft. of exhibition space and spectacular views of the Mississippi River. For more information, visit www.lsumoa.com.
Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Exhibition Gallery Also housed in the Shaw Center, the Alfred C. Glassell Jr. Exhibition Gallery houses exhibitions by LSU School of Art faculty, graduate students, and alumni, as well as Louisiana and national artists, and hosts open juried competitions.
Hill Memorial Library Constructed in 1925 as the main library for the campus and now standing adjacent to Middleton Library, Hill Memorial Library houses Special Collections of rare books, manuscripts, and archived materials at LSU and serves both the university and the public. Among the collections relevant to the Art History Program are the Rare Book Collection and the Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections. Besides being a repository, Hill Library regularly mounts special exhibits of its contents, and holds lectures and symposia in its lecture hall.
