An Experiment in Art: Baxter Gallery at Caltech

On a cloudy afternoon in May 1971, Caltech faculty, staff, trustees, and dignitaries gathered on a campus lawn. They had come to inaugurate the Donald E. Baxter M.D. Hall of Humanities and Social Sciences, a different type of laboratory at this institute of scientific renown. Speakers extolled the building’s architectural beauty and hexagonal design. They praised Baxter’s angled hallways, special libraries, state-of-the-art auditorium and the power of its spaces to shape young minds. During the event, as thunder rumbled overhead, one experiment received no comment, no praise. As the last speaker took his seat, the emcee rushed the podium for a final word. There was an art gallery on the ground floor and a “superb showing of African art.” Some were no doubt perplexed. A gallery? African art? Caltech? He urged a visit as the crowd dispersed.