Hibben artworks on digital display

The Hibben family papers are a tremendous gem in the Indiana State Library. With records, correspondence, pictures and artworks from 1840 to 1937, there is a wide breadth of material among the collection. However, today we are going to look at the artists of the family whose works the Indiana State library is lucky enough to have: Louise Douglas Hibben, her brother Thomas Entrekin Hibben, Sr., and his son, Thomas Entrekin Hibben, Jr.Louise Hibben was born in 1867 and was the youngest of three children born to James Samuel Hibben. Taking after her older brother Thomas, Hibben would see art as a way to showcase the natural world around her, though her portrayals tended to get more abstract the longer she worked. Primarily specializing as a painter, Hibben has a range of pieces that have been collected by the State Library and her works have been shown in galleries from The Indiana Museum of Art at Newfields to the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Thomas Entrekin Hibben, Sr. was a successful businessman and artist working in both Rushville then Indianapolis. Mainly focusing on etchings and lithographs, Hibben would work on improving the etching process of the time himself but have an artistic drive to capture real life scenes as still lives or landscapes. Inspiring both his little sister and his son, Hibben, Sr. was a force for the artistic endeavors in Indiana in the two communities he was a part of, becoming known as an acknowledged patron of the arts and was the first artist at the Indianapolis News.

Thomas Entrekin Hibben, Jr. was an architect by trade, studying at Princeton, Penn and schools in London and Paris, but like his father before him loved capturing the buildings and landscapes around himself in the form of drawings and lithographs. Hibben, Jr. also helped design buildings for Butler University and was involved in the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial. He served in both world wars, would act as a governmental advisor for several New Deal and foreign economic development programs, and would represent the United States as an ambassador to Pakistan.

These aren’t all of the artists in the Hibben family lineage, as Thomas Entrekin Sr.’s daughter Helene Louise Hibben would be quite talented artist herself, specializing in sculptures, particularly bronze. Helene Hibben studied under well-known sculptures Lorado Taft and James Earle Fraser and even had some of her art purchased by the Library of Congress, a couple of her bas-relief portraits. The Indiana State Library does not currently have any pieces by Helene Hibben, but the materials collected about the Hibben family that the library currently houses can be viewed here.

This blog post was submitted by A.J. Chrapliwy, Rare Books and Manuscripts Division. 

Barb Stahl “Skybridge” exhibit on display at the Indiana State Library

Compared to many of her previous paintings, often characterized with seemingly chaotic textures, drips, brushstroke and colors, “Skybridge” represents a moment of pause and reflection; a breath of calm in the middle of the storm. The “Skybridge” series, created over a period of six months, is the first group of paintings Stahl has created with the intention that they be viewed together in a particular order to allow the viewer to move through this achievement of calm with her. It portrays a reflection of the inner self: how we process and compartmentalize; how we meditate on our daily lives; how we release internalized anxiety; and, how, in the end, we find ourselves inside.

“Skybridge” on display at the Indiana State Library

“Skybridge” will be on display in the Exhibition Hall of the Indiana State Library from Thursday, April 13, 2017 to July 12, 2017. For hours of operation, directions and parking information, click here.

Artist Barbara Stahl

Born in Vincennes, Ind., Stahl moved to Indianapolis in 1992 after finishing her MFA in painting from the University of Pennsylvania. While earning her BFA in painting from Indiana University in Bloomington, she received an Honors Division Research Grant to study in Florence, Italy. In addition to being an accomplished fine artist, Stahl is also the founder and owner of Stahl Studios Inc., which specializes in commercial and public art, through which she is perhaps best-known for the larger-than-life Indiana Pacers schedule wall near Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Her large-scale mural work always begins with a grid, enabling her to scale the original, smaller mural design to the massive size required for the wall. After many years, the concept of the grid has come to play an important part in her more abstract fine art pieces. For Stahl, this grid represents the connectivity of all matter, including all of us.

This blog post was written by Rebecca Shindel and Bethany Fiechter, exhibition chairs, Indiana State Library. For more information, contact the Indiana State Library at (317) 232-3678 or “Ask-A-Librarian” at http://www.in.gov/library/ask.htm.