‘A Symbiotic Partnership’ tells the story of the first traveling art exhibition in the U.S.

Rochester Institute of Technology’s co-starring role as a venue for the nation’s very first traveling art exhibition is the subject of a new book from RIT Press. In the book A Symbiotic Partnership: Marrying Commerce to Education at Gustav Stickley’s 1903 Arts & Crafts Exhibitions, author, professor, and RIT Press director Bruce Austin shares a discovery that points to the 1903 exhibition being the first traveling art exhibition in the nation.

Austin explains he made the discovery while looking through old photos of Mechanics Institute’s domestic science program. He recognized the corner cabinet in the background and dining set in one photo as Gustav Stickley’s work, manufactured in 1901. The natural next question for Austin to investigate was how the objects ended up at the institute, which is now known as RIT.

“I started to look into not only why RIT had this Stickley dining set, but what it meant to the 1903 exhibit that began in Syracuse and then traveled to the Mechanics Institute,” said Austin. “After researching, I think we can claim that it was the first traveling art exhibition and it predates by a decade what most people think as the first traveling art exhibition, which is the New York Armory Show in 1913.”

The cupboard’s acquisition spurred the partnership between commercial and noncommercial worlds for a co-sponsored, traveling exhibition pivotal in the Arts and Crafts movement’s growth—one transforming decorative arts and art education.

While some historians mention the exhibition’s travel from Syracuse to Rochester, none has explored its novelty. Austin was particularly impressed by the “marketing acumen” and tenacity it took to accomplish such a feat.

“It’s 1903—you can’t just pack the stuff up, put it in a truck, and send it down the highway. There was no truck, most likely, and there definitely wasn’t a highway. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, so it’s rather remarkable that someone got the idea to travel the exhibition,” said Austin. “As I argue in my book, it wasn’t that exhibits were rare. They happen, but it was separate organizations putting on separate exhibitions, one having very little to do with the other. The 1903 Syracuse-Rochester exhibit was coordinated—and it was probably a pain in the neck to do.”

A Symbiotic Partnership, released in summer 2022, is the first title published in RIT Press’s Arts & Crafts Movement monograph series and can be purchased on the RIT Press website.