“The photographer's material is light! [The] task, it turns out, is enlightenment.”
– Lou Stoumen ‘39
When former LUAG director Ricardo Viera (1974-2018) arrived at Lehigh, there was only one photograph in the collection, a portrait of University founder Asa Packer. Seizing upon a moment when significant photography could still be acquired affordably, Viera set about building a world-class collection. The Intentions and Techniques exhibition series (1979-1996) became a showcase for technological and conceptual development, the art and science of photography. This series also formed a foundation for later exhibitions focused on Latin American Artist-Photographers and Women Photographers. Today, photography represents over half the entire LUAG collection of 20,000 works of art. It continues to change and grow through technological innovations, moving from analog to digital, smartphone photography, video, and beyond.
With help from our friends in Lehigh Libraries Special Collections, we are also highlighting a newly digitized archive of LUAG’s past publications. Featuring catalogs, calendars, announcements, and even scrapbooks from the earliest days of exhibitions on campus to the present, this archive sheds new light on the formative history of the arts at Lehigh, part of the distinctive DNA inspiring generations of makers.
Explore archived publications related to Intentions & Techniques below:
1979: Intentions and Techniques
1983: Intentions and Techniques
1985: Intentions and Techniques
1987: Intentions and Techniques
1989: Intentions and Techniques
1991: Intentions and Techniques
1993: Intentions and Techniques
PastFORWARD: Past exhibitions that continue to shape LUAG’s vision.
As Lehigh University Art Galleries (LUAG) celebrates its 100th birthday in 2025-2026, we are looking to our roots: revisiting past exhibitions and important themes throughout our network of galleries. These are the ideas that have shaped our identity and which galvanize our vision for the future.
Technical innovation paired with creative thinking has fueled significant exhibitions in PHOTOGRAPHY and PRINTMAKING, while the questions what is art? and who are artists? led to showcasing LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS, SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. These works have become part of LUAG’s extensive collection of over 20,000 works of art, a resource ready to shape minds for the next 100 years.
PHOTOGRAPHY: INTENTIONS & TECHNIQUES
Dubois Gallery, Maginnes Hall
SELF-TAUGHT ARTISTS: HOWARD FINSTER
Siegel Gallery, Iacocca Hall • September 2, 2025 - March 13, 2026
LGBTQ+ ARTISTS: SHOW AND TELL
Fairchild-Martindale Study Gallery
PRINTMAKING: A PRINT IS A PARADOX PART 1
Alumni Memorial Gallery • September 2, 2025 - December 12, 2025
PRINTMAKING: A PRINT IS A PARADOX PART 2
Alumni Memorial Gallery • January 19, 2026 - May 22, 2026
LATIN AMERICAN ARTISTS: ART HAS NO HOMELAND
The Gallery at Rauch Business Center
