Permanent Collection

The Dowd Fine Arts Gallery manages a collection of over 900 objects, primarily European and American works on paper dating from the 13th to the 20th century. Other important sub-categories are Works Progress Administration paintings, book multiples, contemporary American ceramics, contemporary outdoor sculpture and works by SUNY emeritus and current faculty. Among the works are:

Pages from various 13th through 18th-century manuscripts - French, Spanish and Persian.

15th through 19th-century European prints. Among the highlights are a woodblock page from the Nuremberg Weltchronik and Der Theuerdanck, etchings by Jacques Callot, engravings by William Hogarth, lithographs by Honoré Daumier, etchings by Francisco Goya, a series of mezzotints by John Constable and David Lucas (Tate Gallery restrikes), and an etching by Paul Cézanne.

Nineteenth-century American prints, including a Currier and Ives lithograph.

Non-European and non-American 19th and 20th-century prints and objects, including Chinese scrolls, a woodblock attributed to Sadahide and tribal masks.

Modern (1900s-1960s) American and European prints and drawings. Among the highlights: a photograph by Ansel Adams, lithographs by Marc Chagall and Joan Miró, an etching by Stanley William Hayter and Pablo Picasso, a lithograph by Henry Moore, a linocut by Henri Matisse, a serigraph by Allen Jones, etchings by Käthe Köllwitz, and lithographs by Le Corbusier and Pablo Picasso, and a series of color woodcut engravings by Salvador Dalí.

WPA Paintings. Although on permanent loan, these paintings were the start of SUNY Cortland's collection when the federal government under the Works Progress Administration loaned them to the State Normal and Training School (SUNY Cortland's predecessor) in 1937.

Book Multiples, the 1960s to 1980s, including books by Alice Aycock, Carl Andre, John Baldessari, Mel Bochner, Jenny Holzer, and Ed Ruscha.

Contemporary American Prints and Drawings. Among the highlights are large lithographs by Lee Bontecou, Leon Golub, Michael Heizer, John Newman, Judy Pfaff and Richard Serra from workshops such as Tyler Graphics and Gemini.

Contemporary Ceramics, including an urn by Don Reitz and raku platter by Paul Soldner.

Contemporary Sculptures including outdoor sculpture by regional artists such as William Sellers.

Modern and Contemporary American paintings, including paintings by Vera Klement and other works by primarily local and regional artists.

Paintings, prints, drawings, ceramics, and sculpture by SUNY Cortland and other SUNY professors, including a significant collection of ceramic vessels by John Jessiman and prints by Steve Barbash and Harvey Breverman.