Encyclopedia Dubuque
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VAN DUZEE, Kate Keith
VAN DUZEE, Kate Keith. (Dubuque, IA, Sept. 18, 1874--Dubuque, IA, Jan. 7, 1962). Founder, DUBUQUE BOYS' CLUB and DUBUQUE ART ASSOCIATION. Van Duzee, a director for forty years of the MOUNT PLEASANT HOME, was an organizer of the Dubuque Boys' Club in 1900 and served as director and trustee of the group from 1900-1915. (1)
Van Duzee's professional art training came through studies in Boston, Ogunquit (ME), Ipswich (MA), Saugatuck (MI) and the Stone City art colony in Iowa. Her work was exhibited extensively through the CARNEGIE-STOUT PUBLIC LIBRARY, the Iowa Art Salon at the state fair, and the Iowa Artists' Club. One-person shows were held at the Little Gallery in Cedar Rapids and the Waterloo Art Association. National exposure came from ghe American Federation of Arts traveling exhibit (1935), Midwestern Exhibit (Kansas City, MO), and the All Iowa Exhibit (Chicago). She had permanent exhibits at the Municipal Museum in Davenport, Iowa and the Carnegie-Stout Public Library. (2)
Awards from the Iowa Art Salon included first prize in watercolor (1919, 1922-23), first in black and white (1921, 1929, 1931), and the 1929 sweepstakes award for her pastel "Jacklin Farm." (3)
In 1910, in what would be the first of many activities establishing her as the "patron saint" of art in Dubuque, Van Duzee helped establish the Dubuque Art Association. She served as the Association's first secretary and worked for many years to encourage membership and bring exhibits to Dubuque. She also held several offices in the state organization of the Colonial Dames of America. (4) Her membership in the Iowa Artists' Club and the Cooperative Artists of Iowa helped her maintain a high profile. She was one of four members of a committee to jury and select artists for the WPA commission for MURALSat the Dubuque federal post office. She rarely sold her work, but once sold 300 paintings. Following their donation to the city's art association, all profits were returned to the charity. (5)
Van Duzee sponsored Adrian Dornbush, the first Dubuque artist-in-residence to give lessons and operate a gallery in Dubuque. (6)
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Source:
1. "The Stone City Art Colony and School 1932-1933-Kate Keith Van Duzee," Online: https://projects.mtmercy.edu/stonecity/otherartists/vanduzee.html
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. "Noted Patron of Art, Kate Van Duzee, Dies," Telegraph Herald, January 8, 1962, p. 11
5. "The Stone City..."
6. Ibid.