Life Mask

Together, these works are a lasting testament to the care, intellect, and altruism with which Dale Jansen approached both art and life. 

This exhibition pays tribute to the late philanthropist, collector, and longtime Des Moines Art Center supporter Dale Jansen, who passed away on February 22, 2024. Its title is borrowed from Bruce Nauman’s 1981 lithograph “Life Mask,” one of 65 artworks that were donated to the Art Center by Jansen through his estate. Nauman’s print is a kaleidoscopic interrogation of impressions—the impression made by a lithographic plate pressed against a wet sheet of paper; the impression of a human face into wax or plaster to create a replica, or life mask; and the impression that a person can leave after death, their legacy.   

The exhibition itself functions as a kind of life mask, an enduring record of Jansen’s significant collection of prints as well as his deep-rooted investment in the Greater Des Moines community as a whole and in the Art Center specifically, to which he generously contributed as a volunteer, trustee, and honorary trustee for nearly 50 years. This selection from Jansen’s collection foregrounds his enthusiasm for American artists who came to prominence after World War II. Together, these works are a lasting testament to the care, intellect, and altruism with which Jansen approached both art and life.  

Artists included in this exhibition are Stephan Balkenhol, Squeak Carnwath, Rodney Carswell, Robert Cottingham, Richard Diebenkorn, Jim Dine, Jasper Johns, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mangold, Bruce Nauman, Philip Pearlstein, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist, Edward Ruscha, Pat Steir, and Richard Tuttle. 

Bruce Nauman (American, born 1941)
Life Mask, 1981
Lithograph in black on Arches cover wove paper
Des Moines Art Center Permanent Collections; Gift of the Estate of Dale Jansen, 2024.73