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Professor Robert Olpin
Biography on Robert Spencer Olpin Bob Olpin, as he was familiarly known, was an irreplaceable authority on Utah art and artists, and made the study and promotion of Utah art his personal mission. Colleagues remarked that he had a unique approach to art history, and that he embraced regional art history in Utah when many others shied away from it. He was, as one colleague described him, “the single most significant supporter of art in Utah.”
Robert Spencer Olpin was born on August 30, 1940, in Palo Alto, California, where he spent most of his childhood. Olpin initially struggled in school, but was greatly inspired to excel academically by Creighton Thorup, his seventh grade homeroom teacher. In high school, Olpin began to develop his passion for history and art. Prior to becoming a student at the University of Utah, Olpin made several family trips to Salt Lake City. Later, as a student, he joined Sigma Chi and pursued an academic career with a history major and a minor in art history. Olpin spent his summers working in Alaska as a storekeeper for a fish camp. This opportunity helped to pay for his expenses and tuition each year. During his undergraduate career, Olpin met his wife Mary Florence Catharine Reynolds, a graduate student at the time and a year older than Olpin. They went on to marry the summer after his graduation with a Bachelor of Science Degree in New Jersey on August 24, 1963. University of Utah instructor Paul Lorenzi left a lasting impression on Bob and, as a result, Olpin went on to pursue a graduate degree in Art History at Boston University, Lorenzi’s alma mater, in 1963. Robert and Mary moved to Boston and both took jobs as dorm staff leaders. At Boston University, Olpin pursued a specialization in Italian Renaissance Art History. He became a teaching assistant in his second year and then a teaching fellow his third and fourth year. Mary was hired as the Associate Dean of Women at Boston University. After the completion of his Master’s in 1965, Olpin remained at Boston University, where he created a doctoral dissertation program to fit his interests in American and regional art. Although it was never published, Olpin wrote his dissertation on Alexander H. Wyant following an extensive research project primarily conducted at the University of Utah. While his dissertation was still a work in progress, two universities offered Olpin teaching positions: one as an assistant professor at Bucknell in Pennsylvania, and the other as a visiting appointment at the University of Utah, which he accepted in 1967. Olpin officially graduated from Boston University in 1971. Robert and Mary moved to Salt Lake City along with their dog Max, a dachshund. The University of Utah offered Mary a job with the Dean of Students Office. By 1971, Olpin had successfully defended his dissertation, was awarded tenure with the Art Department, and offered the position of Department Chairman. During his chairmanship, Olpin oversaw the move of the department into the Fine Arts Building. He also served as director of the Art History program for 11 years. From 1987 to 1997, Olpin was the Associate/Acting Dean for the College of Fine Arts. He served as the Consulting Curator of American Art for the Utah Museum of Fine Arts from 1973 to 1999, and finally as the Consulting Curator of the Permanent Collection at the Springville Museum of Art from 2000-2005. In his spare time, Olpin also served as the Co-director of the Utah Fine Arts Institute and President of the Associated Art Historians, Inc., a Utah non-profit corporation. Numerous organizations and awards recognize Robert Olpin for his research accomplishments in the area of 19th and early 20th century American and regional art, in particular Utah art. While other researchers at the time had moved away from biographical material, Olpin was interested in documenting Utah artists and their work. He authored the original Dictionary of Utah Art in 1980, a text of tremendous value to museum curators and gallery owners throughout Utah. As an art historian, Olpin was most interested in passing knowledge of the world of art on to students younger in age. Olpin believed that once students knew a basic history of art, they would be able to integrate art into many other school subjects. As an instructor, Olpin’s teaching style was radically different from the traditional art historians because of his emphasis on anecdotal data, rather than critical analysis. In his time as a professor, he taught classes such as Introduction to Art History, Realism/Impressionism Art, American Art, 18th and 19th Century Art, Advanced 19th Century Art, and Revolutionary Art. In 2003, Olpin was awarded Utah’s Best of State Medal for “College/University Teacher.” Olpin was very influential in the creation of the fine arts collection at the Marriott Library, in particular the Library’s recent endeavor, the Utah Artists Project. The Utah Artists Project digitally archives, and makes public, materials relating to visual arts and artists in Utah. The Marriott Library Special Collections department currently houses the Robert S. Olpin Papers, which consist mainly of Olpin’s research, writings, teaching, and administrative materials that he accumulated during his 38 years at the University of Utah. Also present in the collection are Olpin’s writings and research on Utah art and artists, as well as research materials that he used for his dissertation. Olpin donated Boxes 1-8 in 1973, while Boxes 9-23 were donated in 2005. Boxes 24-256 were acquired in 2006 after his death. Robert S. Olpin passed away on Saturday, November 5, 2005 from complications following a stroke. Notable Publications: Dictionary of Utah Art (1980). Waldo Midgley: Birds, Animals, Peoples, Things (1983). A Basket of Chips: An Autobiography by James Taylor Harwood (1985). Utah Art (co-author, 1991). Utah, State of the Arts (co-author, 1993). Utah Painting and Sculpture (co-author, 1997, with Vern Swanson and William Seifrit). This work is the standard text for the study of Utah art. Artists of Utah (co-author, 1999). Painters of the Wasatch Mountains (co-author, 2005, with Tom Rugh and Ann Orton). Photogenetic reproductions of his drawings done for a 1973 Mainstreams/Reflections exhibition are on permanent view in the halls of the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Utah. January 1999 marked the beginning of an eighteen-part television course produced at the University of Utah’s KUED Media Solutions called The Art Life of Utah, which runs regularly on KULC. The series chronicles Utah art and society from its inception to the present day, and is used in conjunction with a 466-page course manual. The tuition from this program has helped generated scholarships.
No bibliography available.