Growing collection of American art
on display at Chicago’s Art Institute
uy jucm I4IUXI
Senior Editor
Two giant lions guard the
entrance. Artists’ names mn the
perimeter of the building.
People rest their wea ry selves on
the steps leading up to the Art
Institute of Chicago.
Once inside, a bronze torso
sits on the landing between the
main floor and the second level.
The Institute itself is a work of art
in addition to the works on dis
play.
Among the number of dis
plays featured is the growing
collection of American art since
World War II.
Martha Tedeschi, assistant
curator of prints and drawings,
said the Department of Prints
and Drawings has acquired the
works on display over the past
five years. However, she said,
the Institute has been collecting
American art since it was
founded.
“We try to collect the very
best examples on the market,”
Tedeschi sartd.
The art on display includes a
good representation by Chica
goans such as Robert Lostutter,
Buzz Spector, Nancy Spero and
Dennis Nechvatel.
Among the more notable
contemporary artists on display
are Ancfy Warhol, Jasper Johns,
William de ‘Kooning, Mark
Rothko, Cy Twombly, Eric
Fischl, Arshile Gorky and Bryan
Hum.
ART
PRINTS/DRAWINGS
Some of the more memorable
and recognizable prints and
drawings include Andy Warhol’s
‘‘Homage to Joseph Beuys.’’ A
photograph and a silk screen of
the photograph on black paper
are side by side in the same
frame. By standing to the side to
look at the silk-screened print,
one can see a 3-D effect. To
gether, the photo and silk screen
show a realistic and an ab- .
stracted opinion of Beuys, the
subject.
“Portrait of Arnold
Glimscher," by Chuck Close, is a
portrait created by thumb prints.
At first view, standing about five
feet away, the print looks like a
photograph blownup. Butupon
close inspection, the “photo
graph” turns into a conglomera
tion of gray thumb prints. The
contrasts of dark to light are felt
through differing amounts of ink
on the thumb. Close’s ingenious
approach is a classic example of
post-World War II American art.
“There have been a lot of
trends (in this period of art),”
ledeschi said. “If you have to
generalize, it’s a period marked
by great diversity.”
She cited abstraction and
minimalism as two important
trends of the period.
A rather interesting work is
Christian Eckert’s “Cimabue
Restoration Project,” a collage of
the restoration of the Cimabue
crucifix that was damaged dur
ing a flood. Laminated photo
graphs with applied foil are ar
See PRINTS on 12
Chicago institute exhibit focuses on
photography from 1839 to present
By Coirnie L. Sheehan
Staff Reporter
A violinist gently runs his
hand over the poiished wood of
a Stradivarius violin, and an art
Student stands back in awe to
study the brush strokes of his
first Renoir.
Yet photographers have been
limited in their chances to study
photographic masterpieces until
the most recent show at the Art
Institute of Chicago, “On the Art
of Fixing a Shadow: One
Hundred and Fifty Years of Pho
tography.”
This impressive show i$ a
collection of 420 images from
such photography greats as
Weston, Adams, Cartier-Bres
son, Cameron, Atget, Talbot and
Daguerre.
But this collection is more
than just a jumbled display of
famous photographs. Four cura
tors spent three years assem
bling the photo mastemieces
that would illustrate the flow of
the history of photography since
its invention in 1839.
The show attracted more than
30,000 visitors while at the Na
tional Gallery of Art in Washing
ton and Art Institute officials
hope to match that viewing fig
ure before closing the snow
Nov. 26. The collection will
continue on to its last stop in Los
Angeles.
The show is chronologically
arranged in a convenient circular
walking pattern. The 420 images
cover tne walls of over 15 view
ing rooms and are well spaced
with even lighting.
A DT
/"YIVI
PHOTOGRAPHY
The show has been divided
into four sections, with each
section offering a collection of
prints reflecting the curators’
specialization of study.
The first section, “Inventing
Photography” contains some of
the first images made by man
from cameras and includes an
extended Talbot display and
images by female photographer
Cameron.
One lighted mid-room dis
play alternates the angle of light
thrown onto a daguerreotype, '
an image etched onto a metal
plate. The images catch the
angled light and appear to jump
into 3-D. Two other early deli
cate images are covered with
brown velveteen to protect
against the continuous light of
the gallery. Viewers must raise
the cover to view each image.
The second section, "The
Curious Contagion of the Cam
era,” covers the years between
1880 to 1918. Printing negatives
had moved away from using
heavy, wet glass plates coated
with light-sensitive materials to
the invention of gelatin dry
plates in 1871. With that devel
opment came faster shutter
speeds and smaller, faster cam
eras. In 1888, George Eastman
offered his'first Kodak camera.
Chosen samples of the era
reflect the new technology. The
new cameras enabled photogra
phers to capture a different kind
of image, from stop-action
Muybridge images to social re
form images by Riis (like many
of the sweatshop series that
revealed the truth behind child
bee PHOTOS on 12
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