#art institute of chicago
The Coast of Labrador, William Bradford, 1866
The Triumph of Silenus, Gerard van Opstal, ca. 1660
Port Scene in Calm Weather, Jean Baptiste Pillement, 1782
Les Andelys, Côte d’Aval, Paul Signac, 1886
The Holy Family with Saints Elizabeth and John the Baptist, Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp), 1610-20
Oil on panel
114.5 × 91.5 cm
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Portrait of the Maistre Sisters, Antoine-Jean Gros (French, 1771-1835), 1796
Oil on canvas
43.2 × 31.2 cm
Bust of a Youth(Saint John the Baptist?), Francesco Mochi (Italian, 1580-1654), 1625-405
Marble, on variegated black marble socle
40.5 × 33 × 29 cm
Statue of the Madonna in the Mountains, Caspar David Friedrich (German, 1774-1840), 1804
Brush and black ink and gray wash, with graphite, on cream wove paper
244 × 382 mm
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Magnolias on Light Blue Velvet Cloth, Martin Johnson Heade (American, 1819–1904), ca. 1885-1895
Oil on canvas
38.6 × 61.8 cm
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Cupid Chastised, Bartolomeo Manfredi (Italian, 1582-1622), 1613
Oil on canvas
175.3 × 130.6 cm
Still Life - Strawberries, Nuts, &c., Raphaelle Peale (American, 1774–1825), 1822
Oil on wood panel
41.1 × 57.8 cm
During Raphaelle Peale’s time, still life was not esteemed by most artists, relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy of painting subjects. Yet Peale ignored its low status and is now acknowledged as America’s first professional still-life painter and leading practitioner of the genre. Born into an artistic Philadelphia family, Raphaelle was the eldest son of Charles Willson Peale and the nephew of James Peale, both artists; his siblings were, like him, named after famous old master painters (he had brothers named Rembrandt, Titian, and Rubens). Characterized by crisp forms and serenely balanced compositions, most of Peale’s still lifes portray food, crockery, and glassware arranged on a plain shelf, parallel to the picture plane. In this particularly fine example, the rhythmic balance of fruit, nuts, and Chinese export porcelain is enlivened by the diagonal branch of grapes becoming raisins and an orange leaf. These objects are brightly illuminated against a bare, dark background in the manner of the dramatic still-life compositions of 17th-century painters such as Juan Sánchez Cotán. Peale may have seen the Spanish artist’s work when it was shown at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1818.
Landscape with the Ruins of the Castle of Egmond, Jacob van Ruisdael (Dutch, 1628/29-1682), 1650-55
Oil on canvas
98 × 130 cm
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Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Two Sisters(On the Terrace), 1881, oil on canvas, 100.4 x 80.9 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago. Source
This is one of my all-time favourite Renoir paintings, and it also serves as the cover of TASCHEN’s Renoir. Painter of Happiness book, which never fails to brighten up my day.
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Lana Almedia Marcellus Jeffery, Bedcover or Parlor Throw(Crazy Quilt), 1896/1900, silk-based mixed media, 196.4 x 169.3 cm, The Art Institute of Chicago. Source
This gorgeous quilt was made by American designer Lana Almedia Marcellus Jeffery. Its impressive production process involved numerous sessions of weaving, painting, printing and embroidery.
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A number of women who collected art are profiled in our current library exhibition, Deering, Palmer, Harding, Ryerson: Major Donors of Medieval and Renaissance Art. On view through April 24, the exhibition details the collecting habits of Bertha Honore Palmer (shown here in a portrait by Anders Zorn that is on view in the reading room); Marion and Barbara Deering (shown here in a portrait by Ramón Casas); and Carrie Ryerson, whose portrait is just visible in the upper right portion of this photograph of her Chicago home showing some of her art collection. Many of the artworks that these patrons gave to the Art Institute will be on view starting on March 20 in Saints and Heroes: Art of Medieval and Renaissance Europe.
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Joel Sternfeld’s photograph The National Civil Rights Museum, Formerly the Lorraine Motel, 450 Mulberry Street, Memphis, Tennessee, August 1993 as it appears in On This Site: Landscape in Memoriam. The facing page reads:
Speaking at a rally on April 3, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., said:
Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up the mountain. And I’ve looked over and I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want to let you know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.
The next day, he was assassinated on this balcony outside room 306.
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the reading room will be closed on Monday, January 16.
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This typographic image by Filippo Marinetti appears in a new digital catalogue for a recent experimental exhibition focused on modern art in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Shatter Rupture Break, by Sarah Kelly Oehler, Elizabeth Siegel, and Stephanie D’Alessandro, is available online free of charge.
This catalogue documents an exhibition of the same name devoted to the theme of fragmentation in life and art in the modern age. The first in the Art Institute’s new Modern Series, the exhibition offered fresh and innovative ways to consider the collection beyond standard practices. The same is true for this publication, which features a unique design catered to individual exploration. The digital catalogue includes an interactive section of works and didactics, an exhibition checklist, installation photographs, transcripts and videos of related events, and a compilation of visitor reactions.
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In 2016, historian David Garrard Lowe, author of Lost Chicago, donated a collection of approximately 1,100 photographs and ephemeral items, ranging in date from the 1880s to the 1980s, to the Ryerson & Burnham Archives of the Art Institute of Chicago. The collection currently is in the process of being digitized, and a selection of materials is on display through June 15 in an exhibition in the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries’ Franke Reading Room.
The exhibition, “Memoir of a City”: Selections from the David Garrard Lowe Historic Chicago Photograph Collection, follows the table of contents in Lost Chicago, organizing the cases thematically around pre-Fire Chicago; culture and recreation in the city; residential architecture; transportation and infrastructure; government and commercial architecture; the 1893 and 1933 World’s Fairs; and significant Chicago people and events.
Viewers can explore a variety of primary source materials from the collection, including photographs that have not been published previously. Here you see an example of a photograph from the collection that was featured in Lost Chicago, Henry Ives Cobb’s Federal Building: US Post Office, Courthouse, and Customhouse, completed in 1905 and demolished in 1965. Below that is a design for a “Modern Christmas Tree,” a 1930 work by John Wellborn Root, David F. Leavitt, and Richard McPherren Cabeen. The exhibition also features the advertisement for this tree, which some scholars have suggested provided Irving Berlin with the inspiration for the song “White Christmas.” Other materials on display include menus, playing cards, postcards, and souvenir books.
If you’re planning to visit to view the exhibition, please join us for a conversation with David Garrard Lowe, “Lost Chicago"—The Past, Present, and Future of Historic Preservation,in the Morton Auditorium at 6:00 on Thursday, May 24. Lowe will be joined by author and former Art Institute of Chicago curator John Zukowsky; Founding Partner and Design Principal of the architecture, interiors, and urban planning firm UrbanWorks, Patricia Saldaña Natke FAIA; and School of the Art Institute professor and former director of research for the city’s Department of Planning and Development Historic Preservation Division, Terry Tatum, for a lively discussion on the history and future of historic preservation in Chicago’s rich architectural environment. He will also discuss Lost Chicago, and his gift to the Ryerson and Burnham Archives.
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The work of Shinique Smith is a vivid explosion that reflects a wide array of the artist’s personal interests and experiences. Influenced by everything from graffiti and Japanese calligraphy to metaphysical spirituality and the rituals of burgeoning womanhood, Smith seeks to express the universality of the human experience in good times and bad, utilizing items that include found objects and used clothing. Materials about the artist and her work are available for viewing at the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries, including the 2016 publication Shinique Smith: Wonder and Rainbows.
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