On February 20, 2026, Curator Emeritus Martin “Marty” F. Krause passed away, leaving behind a nearly fifty-year legacy in the Indiana art community. Marty was a scholar of Indiana’s art history who became an iconic part of that history himself.

Newfields Curator Emeritus Martin "Marty" F. Krause (1951–2026)

While many on the Newfields team remember working with Marty, his influence continues to shape the institution today. His scholarship and writing established Kurt Pantzer’s collection of works by J.M.W. Turner as an important part of the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s identity. He is also well known for his collecting, exhibitions, and deep knowledge of Indiana-connected artists Gustave Baumann, Robert Indiana, Garo Antreasian, and artists in the Hoosier School, earning him the occasional nickname “Hoosiermeister.”

Beginning as a graduate intern in 1977, Marty worked his way up to curator of prints, drawings, and photographs by 1979. His career was launched in earnest that year when he was tapped to catalogue the Pantzer bequest of Turner watercolors, drawings, prints, oil paintings, and “Turnerabilia” numbering in the thousands.

Between then and his retirement in 2017, he shaped the IMA’s works on paper collection through the acquisition of over 7,100 prints, drawings, and photographs now part of the Museum’s collection of about 20,000 works on paper. He was also a prolific writer during his tenure, authoring or coauthoring numerous books and exhibition catalogues including The Passage: Return of Indiana Painters from Germany, 1880-1905 (1991), Garo Antreasian Written on Stone: Catalogue Raisonné of Prints, 1940-1995 (1995), Turner in Indianapolis (1997), The Herron Chronicle (2003), The Essential Robert Indiana (2013), and The Autobiography of Gustave Baumann (2015).

Marty was generous with his expertise, building community across national networks of collectors, curators, enthusiasts, and scholars. Deeply ingrained in the collecting and art community here in Indianapolis, he was a member of the Portfolio Club for decades and managed the Museum’s Print Study Group for many years. After his retirement, he continued to bring his extensive knowledge to the group discussions he attended regularly. He also was a favorite in the Newfields docent community. Nationally, he was a member of Print Council of America and a central personality in a dynamic network of individuals passionate about the Arts and Crafts printmaker Gustave Baumann, whom he dubbed “Baumaniacs.”

A true raconteur with an incredible memory for detail, Marty was known for his strong writing voice and turns of phrase that would show up in his exhibitions and books. He always managed to balance deep scholarly knowledge with a disarmingly down-to-earth manner. In retirement he continued to write, consult, mentor, and speak publicly, selling out lecture halls as recently as last fall. Ever the great pedestrian, he was also known for going on walks of eight to ten miles a day in good weather.

Marty’s wife, Mary Krause, is a docent here, and their daughters, Elizabeth and Kirstin, both live locally. They inherited their father’s passion for the field, as Kirstin is now a curator at Purdue University, after holding several research and curatorial positions at Newfields, and Elizabeth is pursuing dual MLIS and MA of History degrees.

His family will be sharing out information about a memorial in the coming weeks. In lieu of sending flowers, they have asked that donations be made to a fund to support the purchase of a print for the Museum’s collection. Dedicating a gift in memory of Marty at discovernewfields.org/donate will direct it to this fund.

The loss of Marty Krause has sent ripples across the print world and Indiana’s art community, and he is going to be missed by many of us here at Newfields, especially myself. Even in retirement, Marty was always accessible to recall a backstory, provide a suggestion, or make an introduction all while giving me space to make my own decisions about the collection he spent so long cultivating. His personality and mentorship were a reliable part of my role here that I am now going to miss every day, even as his legacy lives on in our collections, books, and memories.