Iowater Report

Part of the ongoing disaster of the flooding in the Midwest — floodwaters invaded the arts campus of the University of Iowa. The Iowa River crested on Sunday, but not before reaching the Museum of Art and the relatively new Steven Holl-designed School of Art and Art History, seen here before the flood.

University of Iowa School of Art and Art History, Steven Holl, 2006/STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS

And here after.

As for the museum, fortunately, before the water moved in, the museum moved out most of the works in its collection. That includes Mural, the pivotal Jackson Pollock that he made for Peggy Guggenheim's New York dining room in 1943. A breakthrough for him in putting his whole body into a flowing abstract rhythm, it opened the way to the later — excuse the expression Iowa!— drip paintings.

Mural, Pollock, 1943/ UNIVERSITY OF IOWA MUSEUM OF ART

Art blogger Tyler Green has been keeping up on developments and aggregating media and Flickr coverage here, here and here.