Art Collection

The Reading Song, 1983 calligraphy, artist William Hannon, ground flr, Downtown

Meditation on the Mississippi, 1983 watercolor, artist Ralph Iaccarino, ground flr, Downtown Library

Story Teller, 2005 terra cotta & glazes, Lori Roderick, inside Downtown Library Children's Room

A Cat’s Tale, 2005, artist Rebecca Vyncke. Catch a Catfish, Rock Island, IL environmental education sculpture project, sponsored by Valley Construction and Friends of RIPL. ground floor, Children’s Room, Downtown Library

Peter Rabbit, oil on canvas, Charles White, Rock Island. Children’s Room, Downtown Library

Frederick Weyerhauser portrait, artist Samuel William Horton (1834-1914), 1st floor, Downtown Library

Together - on the Earth, Under the Sky, 1986 pastel diptych 1, artist Jan Dusek, 1st floor, Downtown Library 

Artist’s statement: “Sailing in the tenuous “boat of life,” we love,dance, hunt, fish, and dream.Ancient peoples thought of the earth and the sky as the eternal parents of all of life. Thuse, these pastel paintings are meant to express this continuous, regenerative, interdependent relationship of the life forces. Wrapped in a veil of fantasy and magic, I hope the color and movement of these works will speak to both the young and the old. Alluding to neolithic rock carvings and drawings, the paintings attempt to tell an incomplete and not fully comprehendible narrative of living.”

Together - on the Earth, Under the Sky, 1986 pastel diptych 2, artist Jan Dusek, 1st floor, Downtown Library

Young Rembrandts, 1942 oil on canvas, Louise Paterson Schrepel (1907-1996), 1st floor, Downtown Library

Bottom Framed Up, 1992 oil on canvas, Peter Xiao, 1st floor, Downtown Library

Legacy, 1986 painted canvas, pewter, & wood (redwood, walnut, teak), Phyllis Stringer, 1st floor, over elevator, Downtown Library 

From the artist’s statement: “The cast pewter motif … signifies water, the water of the rivers that meet at Rock Island where Saukenuk once stood. Water is also represented in places in the carved wood. Corn, which was an important crop of the Sac at Saukenuk, is carved in the wood throughout the picture. The circular piece in the center represents the junction of the rivers and the town of Saukenuk. …”  See frame near piece for the remainder of the October 1986 artist statement.

First Church, (additional part of main McCabes work), 1970 acrylic on canvas, Ben Jasper. Presented by McCabe’s Department Store, Rock Island. 1st floor, Downtown Library

Grand Excursion of 1854, print, Michael Blaser, Special Collections room, 1st floor, Downtown Library

Remembrance, “Excursion Steamer arriving for Night Cruise,” print with artist enhancement, Michael Blaser, Special Collections Room, 1st floor, Downtown Library

Railroad Station, watercolor, Paul Norton, Special Collections Room, 1st floor, Downtown Library

Map of Rock Island and “Tri-Cities,” age and provenance unknown, Special Collections Room, 1st floor, Downtown Library

McCabe’s Department store, 1981 watercolor, Paul Norton, mezzanine floor, Downtown Library

Starlight Waltz, 1998 needlepoint, Bonnie Anderson, mezzanine floor, Downtown Library

Untitled landscape 1 of 3, abstract impressionist oil on canvas, Marjorie Griggs Partridge, mezzanine floor, Downtown Library

Untitled landscape 2 of 3, abstract impressionist oil on canvas, Marjorie Griggs Partridge, mezzanine floor, Downtown Library

Untitled landscape 3 of 3, abstract impressionist oil on canvas, Marjorie Griggs Partridge, mezzanine floor, Downtown Library

Gloucester in Autumn, oil on canvas, donated April 5, 1943 by the artist in memory of her father, Louis Kohn, Irma Rene Koen (1884-1975). Stairwell to 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Illinois Landscape, oil on canvas, Morris Kaplan, rotunda gathering area, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Print of a pen and ink illustration of Main (downtown) Library as it originally appeared, titled Rock Island Library. Artist’s signature unclear, possibly Michael Makelus. Prints courtesy of Rock Island Bank, age & origin of print, unknown.

Abraham Lincoln portrait, donated July 2018 by Mark Pribyl, signed Cornelius Vis 67, rotunda gathering area, Downtown Library

Blue Mountain Scape, 1998 oil on canvas, Marjorie Griggs Partridge, stairwell to 2nd floor, Downtown Library

King Charles 1 Saying Goodbye to His Children Before Being Beheaded,  19th century tapestry needlepoint, presented in honor of former library board president, Frank E. Brandt, by members of his family. Gwen Brandt. Reference offices, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Miss Ellen Gale, oil on canvas portrait from photo, artist Charles White, Rock Island. Director’s Office, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Art Beat 1969, poster, artist unknown. Director’s Office, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Mississippi Window View, 1985 oil on canvas, Sherry Case Maurer, Rock Island. Community Room, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Arrangement in Red, 1982 watercolor, Sally MacMillan (1912-2006.) Community Room, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Proscenium VI - Ionian Order,  1987 handmade paper & mixed media, Annette Lindstrom (1944-2018.) Community Room, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Split Rock Journal, 1986 handmade paper & mixed media, Annette Lindstrom (1944-2018.) Community Room, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Cosmic Wave, watercolor, abstract southwestern landscape, Ralph Iaccarino, anonymously donated March 2013, in memory of former library board member and art committee chair Ruth Evelyn Katz. Community Room, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

McCabe's 100th anniversary mural, 1970 acrylic on canvas, Ben Jasper. Gift of Louise & Harvey O. McCarty. Community Room, 2nd floor, Downtown Library

Images, top left down and across: 

1. Rock Island County Court House, 15th Street, between 2nd & 3rd Avenues
2. Mitchell & Lynde (First National Bank Building), 2nd Avenue at Market Square
3. Federal Building (Old Post Office,) 3rd Avenue & 15th Street
4. Watch Tower Inn, overlooking Rock River in Blackhawk State Park
5. Dormitory and Old Main, Augustana College, 7th Avenue near 38th Street
6. Burlington Depot, 2nd Avenue & 20th Street

The large center panel is a composite scene looking East on 2nd Avenue from Market Square toward Burlington Depot. Rock Island House Hotel is on the left, Bengston Building and Harper House on the right.

Essee Umano, ‘to be human,”  1986 bronze sculpture of swans, Gene Horvath (1927-1995), donated by the Katz and Harris families to celebrate the Main (downtown) library building rededication. Location, north side of Downtown Library

Aspire, stained glass window, Donated by Glass Impact and Gere Dismer Architects, Southwest Library Community Room.

Donation placard for the Aspire stained glass window

"Awake", by Micki LeMieux, Rock Island Arts Advisory Committee and Quad CIty Arts Rotating Public Sculpture program. Southwest Library lawn, projected display time: July 2021-2022.