Eugene Dana: Geometric Abstractions

Born in Marengo, IL in 1912, Eugene Dana spent his early childhood living in Clinton, Iowa. In 1936, he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and received a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. In 1937, he studied Modern painting at the St. Paul School of Art with artists LeRoy Turner and Cameron Booth. In 1941, he studied at Harvard University with with the noted Bauhaus instructor, Josef Albers.

Dana’s first teaching assignment was at the South High School in Minneapolis, MN. Moving to Chicago, Dana became a longtime Professor of Art at the Institute of Design (ID) from 1947-1963. From 1966-1985, he became an instructor at the University of Illinois, Chicago (Circle campus). During his years at the ID and University of Illinois, Dana worked closely with fellow artist and instructor, Richard Koppe. Dana organized the Richard Koppe retrospective at the University of Illinois in 1977 after the artist’s untimely death.

During his lifetime, Eugene Dana accepted numerous visiting teaching positions throughout the country, including those at Drake University, Des Moines, IA; Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY; Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA and Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Dana exhibited at such national venues as the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Non-Objective Painting (Guggenheim Foundation), New York, NY; the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI; the University of Illinois, Chicago, IL and the St. Paul School of Art, St. Paul, MN, among others.

Together with his friend and colleague, Glenn Allen, the two artists established the Dana-Allen Dissertation Fellowship in the Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, of which his estate collection benefits.

Eugene Dana died in Harvard, IL in 1996.

Top Image: Aureole, 1983, Watercolor on paper, 22 1/2 x 30 inches, Signed Eugene Dana and dated lower right; Titled lower left, #17502