The Arts at UCLA: The College of Applied Arts, the College of Fine Arts & the Decision to Restructue

The College of Applied Arts, the Decision to Restructure the College, and the College of Fine Arts

The College of Applied Arts

Established in 1939, the College of Applied Arts offered UCLA students an education of the arts. The college was housed in the Art Building, what is now Perloff Hall. The curriculum and majors of the college were aimed at a more theoretical approach to the arts. The majors offered under the College of Applied Arts were:

                     Art (history and studio, pictorial arts, & design)
                     Music (general, teaching, opera, & performance)
                Business Education (office administration, accounting, general business,                                                                        merchandising)
                Physical Education (physical education, school health education, physical                                                                        therapy, recreation, dance)
                Home Economics (general, teacher education, foods & nutrition, food                                                                    technology, clothing textiles & related arts)
                Theater Arts (theater, motion pictures, television & radio, language arts)

Though the college offered majors in 6 departments, there were actually 9 departments in the college. The 9 departments were: Military Science, Air Science, Naval Science, Home Economics, Music, Theater Arts, Business Education, Art, and Physical Education.
The various departments of the College of Applied Arts produced different events throughout the academic year. The Department of Music organized noon recitals on Tuesdays. These recitals included: the A Capella Choir, the Madrigal Singers, the Glee Club, the University Band, the University Symphony Orchestra, opera workshops, and performances by individual students and members of the faculty. Fridays at noon organ recitals entertained the UCLA community. The Department of Physical Education and the Dance Wing of the Campus Theater regularly presented dance recitals. The Department of Theater Arts staged a series of 4 plays each semester. Some of the plays produced during 1960-1961 were: Touch of the Poet, Island of Goats, She Stoops to Conquer, and Malone.

The Decision to Restructure

      The validity of the College of Applied Arts was questioned in late 1959. The college no longer seemed to be relevant to the times. To some, the college misrepresented how the arts should be studied in a higher education setting. In 1959, a committee was assembled to study the validity of the College of Applied Arts. The committee’s study revealed that the College of Applied Arts should be restructure into a college that best suited an education and practice of the arts. The restructure resulted in the establishment of the College of Fine Arts.
      The main difference between the College of Applied Arts and the College of Fine Arts was the way in which art theory and practice were approached. The College of Fine Arts wanted not only to provide a fine education of the arts, but also wanted to train students to become professionals in their given areas; the defining goal was to balance theory and practice.
      Under the restructure, the Business Education major was discontinued in the Summer of 1962, the curriculum in Apparel Merchaindising was discontinued in 1962, and the Physical Education major was quickly terminated, although the dance component became part of the Department of Theater Arts. The Department of Home Economics was also eliminated from the college and university curriculum.

The College of Fine Arts

      The College of Fine Arts was established on July 1, 1960. Housed in the Dickson Art Center (what is now Perloff Hall), it was headed by Dean William Melnitz. Melnitz was the founding dean of the college and held this position until 1967. After Dean Melnitz’s retirement, Charles Speroni was chosen as the second dean of the college. The majors offered under the College of Fine Arts were:
                     Art (history of art, history and studio, pictorial arts, and design)
                     Music
                     Theater Arts and Dance
      The statement of the College of Fine Arts as stated in the UCLA General Catalogue of 1961-1962 was:
          "The College of Fine Arts believes that through the combining of scholarly study            with creation and performance, high competence in the arts can effectively be            developed at the university level. The objective is a professional education of the            highest quality for the creative and performing artist on the one hand, and the            historian and critic of the arts on the other. "
      Though there were no problems creating the college, problems did arise with the hiring of instructors and professors. Since the college’s goal was to not only teach, but to train students to be professionals, individuals like Chancellor Murphy believed it essential to hire professional artists as instructors. Many professors objected to this because they felt that all instructors should hold a Ph.D. degree, and the majority of the professional artists didn’t have them. As a result, the battle to get professionals to teach at UCLA became a battle between individuals like Chancellor Murphy and the arts faculty.

An interesting story: Juscha Heifetz, Gregor Piatigorslai, and William Primrose were world renowned string instrument players--they played the violin, viola, and cello, respectively. They were interested in teaching in the UCLA Music Department, but the department said no. Two of the musicians ended up going to USC instead, except Primrose who sadly passed away during this time.