The First 100 Years of MCAD

Founded in 1886, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design is one of the oldest art schools in the United States. With a long and storied history, this article will outline the origins of the school for its' first 100 years (1886-1986).

The school's origins start in 1883, when the Minneapolis Society of Fine Arts was established. The society then created the Minneapolis School of Fine Arts three years later in 1886, and was originally located in a rented apartment in downtown before moving to a more permanent location at the top floor of the then-new Minneapolis Public Library in 1889. The school's first director (and, initially, its' only instructor), Douglas Volk, was an accomplished painter who studied with the likes of Jean-Léon Gérôme in France.

In 1893, German-born New York painter Robert Koehler became the new Director of the school and would develop much of the art education curriculum over his ten-year tenure. Alongside Koehler, Mary Moulton Cheney was hired in 1899 to help develop a design program. Cheney would eventually become the president of the school in 1917. The school changed its' name to the Minneapolis School of Art in 1910, and with the establishment of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1915, meant a new, temporary location for the school until the completion of the Julia Morrison Memorial Building.

Throughout the early 20th century, the MSA would see such notable faces like Wanda Gág ’17 (author of Millions of Cats) and George Morrison ‘43 (Ojibwe expressionist artist), with famed German expressionist painter Oskar Kokoschka teaching at the school in 1957. 1958 saw another expansion of the school with the Design Division, which is now the College Library. Recognizing the high regard of MSA's BFA degree, in 1970 President Arnold Herstand would rename the school to its' current name of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, along with launching an extensive visiting artists program and establishing one of the earliest courses in intermedia in the United States.

In addition, Herstand would also oversee the construction of a new, four-floor building for the school in 1974. Designed alongside the Children's Theatre Company and new wings for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the buildings are some of Pritzker Prize-winning architect Kenzo Tange's only works made in the United States. In 1981, MCAD partnered up with the Jerome Foundation to launch the Jerome Fellowship for Early Career Artists, which is still active today.

Learn more

• MCAD Milestones