The INDIANA DUNES REVEALED: The Art of Frank V. Dudley

About this book

A native Midwesterners timeless portrayals of a fragile sanctuary The Indiana Dunes Revealed offers the first comprehensive examination of a widely collected much loved and ecologically significant artist. Described by art historian William Gerdts as one of the finest painters working in the Midwest in the first decades of the twentieth century Frank V. Dudley (1868-1957) was a native of Wisconsin who studied at the Art Institute of Chicago before going on to establish a long exhibition record both there and across the country. He also dedicated over forty years of his professional life as a landscape painter to the promotion and preservation the Indiana Dunes. Today thanks in part to Dudleys efforts this unique geographical region enjoys state and federal protection and provides ecologists from around the world with a living laboratory unlike anything else. The Indiana Dunes Revealed serves as the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition of Dudleys work showing from August 15 to November 30 2006 at the Brauer Museum of Art at Valparaiso University. Featuring 150 color and 70 black-and-white images it celebrates Dudleys unique artistic legacy documents the exhibition and demonstrates the painters importance to environmentalists and naturalists especially during the many years of national debate over the designation of parts of the dunes as a national park. In some areas Dudleys painting may be the only record of a lost dunescape and as the struggle between development and preservation continues his enduring art reminds us of the need for a sustainable environment for the Great Lakes.