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International Art Treasures Web Magazine December 2005 |
The Art Institute of Chicago
Illinois is home to one of the world's finest art museums the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). It's permanent collection boasts some of the most recognizable art works such as Grant Wood's American Gothic, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks and Renoir's Two Sisters / On the Terrace. Temporary Exhibits currently on display include Legends and Legacy Award: Elizabeth Catlett and For Hearth and Altar: Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection. February 2006 the internationally touring exhibit Girodet: Romantic Rebel will leave its current home at the Louvre and open at the AIC. Permanent CollectionSunday Afternoon with Georges Seurat
European and American masters are featured in the Permanent collection at the AIC. One of the most famous Seurat paintings Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte was featured in the final Impressionist exhibit in Paris in 1886. Seurat is known for pointillism, the use of dots of color though the artist preferred to call his technique divisionism.
Gustave Caillebotte was an engineer by trade. He was born to a wealthy family who made their fortune in textiles and later real estate. His inheritance allowed him to patronage the Impressionists. With his friends Degas, Monet and Renoir he organized the first Impressionist exhibit of 1874 in Paris and financially supported many of the subsequent Impressionist exhibits. It was at the second that he himself exhibited his work. Caillebotte's best known works are those of Parisian boulevards that he observed from vantage points above the city and carried this to his canvas. Paris Street: Rainy Day was an intersection near the Saint-Lazare train station in Paris. The Caillebotte family owned property in the area. The artist distorted the size to allow for a wide angled view of the image. He left his collection to the French government upon his death provided they were put on display at the National Museum and eventually the Louvre. At the time, given the negativity surrounding impressionist works the French government didn't wish to accept the paintings but eventually relented and accepted a portion of the art collection. Caillebotte's will named as executor his friend Pierre August Renoir. Pierre Auguste Renoir
Edward Hopper's Nighthawks
Nighthawks is the best known of Edward Hopper's works. The American artist painted city scenes generally from the outside looking in, as with this work. Believed to be inspired from a scene witnessed at a restaurant in New York City's Greenwich Village Hopper's home for over half a century. Hopper, like many artists, sketched and brought the sketches back to his studio where his wife, a former actress, would be his model for the painting. American Gothic: Grant Wood
Grant Wood's sister and dentist were the models for one of the instantly recognizable images of Americana. Created during the Depression American Gothic was criticized for being insulting to those it was meant to represent the rural community. Legends and Legacy Award: Elizabeth Catlett
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Elizabeth Catlett is a noted sculpture and graphic artist. She was the first student to ever receive a master's degree in sculpture from the University of Iowa in 1940. It was in Iowa that she studied with Grant Wood. She was awarded a fellowship, in 1946, that gave her the chance to travel to Mexico City to study. |
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It was in Mexico that she worked with the People's Graphic Art Workshop / Taller de Gráfica Popular (TGP) a group that used their art as a tool to promote social change. The I am the Black Woman Series was based on Estampas de la Revolucion Mexicana a TGP collective series.
I am the Black Woman Series consists of fifteen linocut with self-explanatory titles. And a Special Fear for My Loved Ones highlights the genuine threat of lynching for the Southern Black Community.
Title: Special Houses, 1946
(from the series “I am the Black Woman”),
from the edition of 20 printed in 1989
Artist: Elizabeth Catlett (American b. 1915)
Medium: Linocut on Cream Wove Paper
Dimensions: 108 x 150 mm (image); 200 x 255 (sheet)
Image Courtesy: The Art Institute of Chicago
Special Houses examines the issue of segregated housing and the experiences faced by African Americans in the crowded northern cities of the USA.
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La Presa is not part of the series but is representative of the work Elizabeth Catlett created for the TGP. |
This exhibition highlights five new acquisitions for the AIC from the artist's career, including three works from "I Am the Black Woman" (1946-47).
For Hearth and Altar:
Ceramics from the Keith Achepohl Collection
December 3, 2005 - February 20, 2006
African pottery is functional. The craft of pottery creation lies in assuring the item can be utilized for its specific purpose. The art adds aesthetics to the vessel. The first step in the process is the collection of the raw clay. In Africa this is generally done during the dry season, the entire continent has deposits of the natural resource. Virtually every African culture creates pottery.
Title: Storage Container
Nuna; Burkina Faso Early/mid-20th century
Medium: Terracotta and Slip
Dimension: 22 x 25-1/2 inches
Image Courtesy: The Art Institute of Chicago
Most of the objects are made for use in the home whether for service or sacred purposes or both. A beer pot could be used to pour a homage to one's ancestors or shared among wedding guests during its next use.
Title: Container for Water or Beer (Inongo)
Gwembe Tonga; Zambia Mid-/late 20th century
Medium: Terracotta and pigment
Dimensions: 15 1/2 x 16 1/4 inches
Image Courtesy: The Art Institute of Chicago
The contents of the pot decide how it should be treated even when used for dual purposes. Cultural influences take hold. For example with the Baule of the Ivory Coast a pot that holds water can be observed openly, however when the same pot is placed on a shrine it is to be viewed surreptitiously.
Title: Bottle
Yacoma; Dem. Rep. of Congo Early/mid-20th century
Medium: Terracotta and pigment
Dimensions: 11 x 8 inches
Image Courtesy: The Art Institute of Chicago
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There are rare works made only for ritual purposes that will look very similar to one used in normal household activities. Such as a vessel created for a shrine in the Yoruba area of Nigeria could resemble an ordinary water container. |
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But this may not hold true for all cultures in the Niger Delta region of Mali items created for a ritual burial were shaped like lidded jars but without a top opening (or at least not one that actually functioned).
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The decorative techniques used vary among cultures. The pot may take the human shape or include the same motifs used to decorate the human body. Potters still practice these ancient techniques in Africa as hand-made pottery is widely used. |
About half of the 125 works forming For Hearth and Altar are promised gifts to the Art Institute of Chicago
Girodet: Romantic Rebel
February 11, 2006 - April 11, 2006
Title: Burial of Atala, 1808
Artist: Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson (French 1767-1824)
Permanent Collection: Louvre, Paris, France
Image Courtesy: The Art Institute of Chicago
The French Neo-classical artist Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trison is featured in the first US retrospective of his works that will be at the Art Institute of Chicago beginning in February 2006.
Girodet was a student of Jacques-Louis David and was considered to be his finest pupil. Later he would abandon the classical skills bringing romanticism to his works that he oft used as political comment. This is unsurprising given he witnessed the French Revolution first hand. In 1789 he was awarded the Prix de Rome for Joseph Recognized by His Brothers.
Like many artists he had subjects that he returned to such as images representing the Ossian, a figure from a Nordic myth contrived by James McPherson and Atala based on a Chateaubriand novel.
The exhibition includes a large range of the Frenchman's work beginning with items from his student years.
Girodet: Romantic Rebel
Musée du Louvre:
September 19, 2005 - January 2, 2006
Art Institute of Chicago:
February 11 - April 30, 2006
Metropolitan Museum of Art:
May 22 - August 27, 2006
Montreal Museum of Fine Art:
October 12, 2006 - January 21, 2007
Title: The Art Institute of Chicago, Interior
Image Courtesy: The Art Institute of Chicago
With an extensive permanent collection including some world famous works the AIC is one of the finest art museums.