It All Began With a Bequest

In 2021, the Hite Institute of Art and Design celebrated its 75th year at the University of Louisville—a noteworthy tribute to the vision and generosity of Allen and Marcia Hite, who left a generous bequest to UofL in 1946.

The Hites shared a great enthusiasm for both the future of UofL and of the Louisville arts community. Through their generosity, the department was officially endowed.

Shortly thereafter, the first Department Chair, Mr. Justus Bier, was named. Understanding both the power and precarity of artmaking, Mr. Bier quickly set to work on building a robust and comprehensive studio art and art history program.

Today, the Hite Institute of Art and Design is a thriving academic department, with 16 full-time faculty members, a full-time staff of 4, and approximately 400 undergraduate and graduate majors in the combined studio, art history, and critical & curatorial studies areas.

The Department also maintains six art galleries featuring rotating exhibitions by nationally and internationally renowned artists and designers, as well as by UofL students and faculty members.

Among the nationally and internationally recognized artists who have passed through the Hite Institute over the last 77 years are Sam Gilliam, Kenneth Victor Young, Bob Thompson and Sally Hazelet Drummond.

UofL is incredibly fortunate for the generosity of Allen and Marcia, whose bequest continues to change the landscape of American art by discovering new knowledge, ideas, and ways of seeing the world.