Parks Library Bas Relief

Artist / Maker Nellie Verne Walker (American, 1874 - 1973)

Date1924

Dimensions63 × 112 in. (160 × 284.5 cm)

ClassificationsArchitecture, Architectural Ornamentation and Elements

Credit LineComissioned by Iowa State College. In the Art on Campus Collection, University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.

Object numberU2011.184ab

Status

On view

Collections

CultureAmerican

Label TextFrom the University Museums Collections Handbook, vol. 2, 2025: In the upper corners of the east façade of the original Parks Library building are two bas relief panels designed by Iowa-born sculptor Nellie Verne Walker, the first works of public art on Iowa State’s campus. To complete the library commission, Walker worked on scaffolding after the stones had been put in place in 1924. The south panel of the library’s exterior depicts the curriculum for men at Iowa State University circa 1900: engineering, science, veterinary medicine, and agriculture. The north panel depicts educational programs for women: art, home economics, and literature. Nellie Verne Walker was born in Red Oak, Iowa, in 1874, and became a well-known sculptor during her lifetime. Her sculpture of Abraham Lincoln was featured at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893), and she later worked with internationally known sculptor Lorado Taft. She sculpted the large-scale bronze of Iowa Senator James Harlan exhibited in the United States Capitol until 2014. Her works of art were largely in the Beaux-Arts style, which followed the design of buildings on campus such as Parks Library, Marston Hall, Curtiss Hall, and Beardshear Hall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In the upper corners of the east facade of the original Library building are two bas relief panels designed by Iowa-born sculptor Nellie Verne Walker (1874-1973). To complete the library commission Ms. Walker worked on scaffolding after the stones had been put in place in 1924. She was assisted in much of the actual carving by the Swiss-born sculptor J.G. Zimmerman, who was employed at the Midway Art Studio and had space in the same building in which Ms. Walker had her studio. The south panel depicts the curriculum for men circa 1900: engineering, science, veterinary medicine, and agriculture. The north panel depicts educational programs for women: art, home economics, and literature.

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