Essays
Dora Apel's essay, "Detroit the Industrial City", discusses the evolution, styles, and methods of Cass Corridor artists.
Dennis Nawrocki's essay, "Where's Detroit in the 'New' Detroit Institute of Arts?", discusses the evolution of the DIA's contemporary collection from the 1960's and the Samuel Wagstaff era through 2007.
Cass Corridor Images from the Virtual Motor City
The Virtual Motor City consists of more than 800,000 specially selected glass and nitrate, acetate and polyester film-based negatives, from the late 19th century to 1980. AIt is an IMLS sponsored digitization project, carried out by the Wayne State University Library System and the Walter P. Reuther Library. The digitized images in the project represent a small subset of the Detroit News Collection, one of the premier photojournalistic resources freely available from a national-level newspaper and held at the Reuther Library. As a part of the Virtual Motor City project a number of 1920's Detroit News Newsreels have been digitized. Over 400 are available for browsing online through the VMC.
Cass Corridor Art Images
LUNA (VISUAL RESOURCES COLLECTIONS)
The collection includes images of about 60 works by Cass Corridor artists from the WSU Visual Resource Collections.
Click on this link to view Cass Corridor works.
Wayne State University Art Collection
- Wayne State University Art CollectionWSU's art collection includes close to 6,000 works of art.
The work of regional and Michigan artists from the mid to late twentieth century form the core of the collection, including a large number of pieces by Detroit's Cass Corridor artists.
Studios
Collections and Archives with Cass Corridor art holdings
Willis Gallery Archives - from the Archives of American Art
Art Oral Histories: Cass Corridor Documentation Project
“In fact the art was rougher here, slicker in New York. Something about the jerrybuilt quality of the art contributed to its intensity, and allows us at the same time to understand its tenderness.”
Susanne Hilberry, gallery director
This collection of oral histories presents a variety of perspectives on the art of the Cass Corridor, from artist to gallery owner to collector.
- Jim ChatelainJames Chatelain is an artist and former employee of the Detroit Institute of the Arts. He is the author of 'GUTS, Detroit in the 80s'. He discusses his experiences in the Cass Corridor art scene in the 1960's and 1970's.
- John EgnerJohn Egner is an artist, former painting professor at Wayne State University and a key figure in the Cass Corridor art scene. He discusses discusses his life, how he came to Detroit, and the Detroit art scene in the 1960's and 1970's.
- Stephen GoodfellowStephen Goodfellow is an artist known for his painting style Micropointillism, as well as his work with the local Detroit band, The Layabouts.
- Susanne HilberrySusanne Hilberry was assistant to Sam Wagstaff, curator of contemporary art at the Detroit Institute of the Arts from 1968-1971. Hilberry, owner of the Susanne Hilberry Gallery in Ferndale, Mi., discusses her education, her work with Sam Wagstaff, and the artists of the Cass Corridor.
- Kathryn Brackett LuchsKathryn Brackett Luchs is a multimedia artist. In 2002, with Shaun Bangert, she created the documentary film, 'Images from Detroit's Cass Corridor'. She talks about her life growing up in Detroit and her work as an artist.
- Marsha MiroMarsha Miro was born in Detroit, Mi. She was the art critic for the Detroit Free Press from 1974-1995 and is one of the founders of the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD). She discusses her education and her work as an art critic in Detroit during the rise of the Cass Corridor artists.
- Nancy MitchnickNancy Mitchnick is an artist from Detroit, Mi. who participated in a solo exhibition at the Willis Gallery in 1973. Mitchnick is associated with Detroit's Cass Corridor and has taught painting at WSU, Bard College, CalArts and Harvard. She talks about her life in Detroit, her childhood, and her work as an artist.
- Dennis NawrockiDennis Nawrocki has been a faculty member at CCS, Wayne State University, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, from the mid-1970s until the present. He wrote extensively about the Cass Corridor artists movement in Detroit. Nawrocki is the author of 'Art in Detroit Public Places'.
- Mary PrestonMary Preston is a Michigan artist and former art gallery owner/director of Feigenson/Preston Gallery. She talks about her life growing up, her life as an artist in Detroit, her relationships with other Detroit artists, and Detroit gallery owner, Jackie Feigenson.
- Allen SchaergesAllen Schaerges is a Detroit attorney, community organizer, art collector and promoter of the 'Dally in the Alley' festivals in Detroit's Cass Corridor. He discusses his life growing up and his involvement with Cass Corridor artists as a collector and friend.
- Robert SestokRobert Sestok is a Detroit painter and sculptor associated with the Cass Corridor art movement. He talks about how he became involved in the Cass Corridor art scene.
- Gilda SnowdenGilda Snowden is a Detroit-based artist, writer, lecturer and curator. She is a Professor of Fine Arts at CCS.
- Mary Ann WilkinsonMary Ann Wilkinson worked as a curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1981 to 2009. She contributed an essay for the exhibition catalogue 'Up From the Streets: Detroit Art from the Duffy Warehouse Collection".
- David ZuccaDavid Zucca is a stockbroker. He has worked in New York City and Ann Arbor. He is an avid art collector and collected works by many Cass Corridor artists.
More artist interviews
- Aris Koutroulis InterviewThe Smithonian's Archives of American Art interviewed Aris Koutroulis in 1976.
Museum Links for Detroit Art
Local Museums
Featured National
Art Institute of Chicago
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)
San Francisco Museum of Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art
Featured International
Centre Pompidou
Blogs
- Motown Review of Art"A blog about visual art and other aspects of culture in Detroit and vicinity."
By Vince Carducci - Kresge Artists Fellowship recipient.
Art Videos
Time and Place: Art From the Cass Corridor in Wayne State University's Art Collection
Menage a Detroit: Three Generations of Artists, N'Namdi Center for Contemporary Art
Detroit Artists Market: Willis Gallery, Part One
Willis Gallery, Part Two
Willis Gallery, Part Three
Willis Gallery, Part Four
Willis Gallery, Part Five
Willis Gallery, Part Six
Local Art Gallery and Museum News Links
- Art Detroit Now"Your online guide to great contemporary art in Detroit." Links to current exhibitions at local galleries and museums.
- Artists Take on DetroitOnline exhibition catalog for an installation project at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where ten artists used a wide variety of media to explore facets of the city.