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Marvin Cone (1891-1965) - faculty

A lifelong resident of Cedar Rapids and beloved friend of Grant Wood, Marvin Cone was a leader in regionalist art and the Linn County art community. Cone attended Adams Elementary School and then Washington High School from 1906-1910. He completed his undergraduate education at Coe College (1914) and then enrolled at the Art Institute of Chicago. World War I interrupted his studies; Cone was drafted and stationed in New Mexico, then set on to France in 1917, where he worked as an interpreter. While overseas, he studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, Montpellier (1919).

Marvin returned to Cedar Rapids in 1919 to a French teaching position at Coe College for the 1919-1920 academic term. He immediately renewed his past friendship with Grant Wood. The two artists went to France in the summer of 1920, producing a series of impressionistic works while living in Paris. From 1919-1929, Cone returned to France each summer for art studies and enrichment.

Together, Cone and Wood developed and launched the Stone City Art Colony in the summer of 1932. After enduring a financial struggle in 1933, the colony closed, mainly due to Depression-era conditions. Immediately upon the colony’s closing, Cone accepted a painting professor position at Coe College.

He continued to teach at Coe until 1960. Within his forty year career at the campus, he taught French from 1920-1934, and in 1934, founded the college’s art department. Cone maintained an extensive teaching load, including studio classes and art history courses. The Coe College art gallery is named in his wife's honor and houses the largest permanent collection of Cone artwork in the state of Iowa. He was a member of the Iowa Artists Club and the Cedar Rapids Art Association. A main gallery of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art is dedicated to this vibrant artist. Marvin Cone died in Cedar Rapids in 1965.

Online Resources for Marvin Cone:

Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. “Marvin D. Cone.” Available: http://www.crma.org/collection/cone/cone.htm

Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA. “Winnifred Cone Gallery.” Available: http://www.public.coe.edu/departments/Art/mcone.html

Marvin Cone in Coe art studio, 1954.

Marvin Cone in Coe art gallery, 1964.

Marvin Cone

Photos courtesy of the George T. Henry Archives, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, IA.

When Tillage Begins: The Stone City Art Colony and School
Published online October 2003 by the
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