Alexander Reid Winsey papers

Alexander Reid Winsey joined the DePauw art department in 1935 after working as a commercial artist in Indiana and Wisconsin and graduate work at Yale University. He was a native of Appleton, Wisconsin. Winsey attended Lawrence College one year and later received the B.S. degree at the University of Wisconsin where he was awarded the Zona Gale Scholarship and was a three-letterman in varsity swimming. In 1932-33 Winsey was first assistant to Thomas Hart Benton during the preparation of the Indiana mural for the Chicago World’s Fair. He also studied with Elmer E. Taflinger. Winsey was responsible for developing DePauw’s art department as a separate academic entity shortly after he joined the faculty and was instrumental in its growth to a full-fledged department offering a major. He was serving as department head at the time of his retirement in 1970. Concomitant with campus art history instruction Winsey for over 20 years led summer history study tours to Europe, lecturing in over 40 European cities. He was a member of many state, regional and national art associations and had served as president of both the Indiana Federation of Art Clubs and the Indiana Artists Club. In recognition of his contribution to student life, DePauw undergraduates in 1957 awarded him their Brown Derby symbolic of the campus’ most popular professor. Winsey wrote a number of art and art history articles which appeared in such periodicals as “Science” magazine, “Glamour,” and Colliers” and did cartoons for daily newspapers in Chicago. A number of murals rendered after his graduation from Wisconsin in 1930 exist in Wisconsin and Illinois. Winsey retired from full-time teaching in African art and was preparing instructional materials in African art based on his extensive travel and research in Africa. He was married to Hazel Schultz Winsey and they had one son, Peter.