Visual arts of Chicago
Encyclopedia
Visual arts of Chicago refers to paintings, prints
, illustrations, textile art
, sculpture
, ceramics and other visual artworks produced in Chicago or by people with a connection to Chicago. Since World War II
, Chicago visual art has had a strong individualistic streak, little influenced by outside fashions. "One of the unique characteristics of Chicago," said Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts curator Bob Cozzolino, "is there's always been a very pronounced effort to not be derivative, to not follow the status quo." The Chicago art world has been described as having "a stubborn sense ... of tolerant pluralism." However, Chicago's art scene is "critically neglected." Critic Andrew Patner has said, "Chicago's commitment to figurative painting, dating back to the post-War period, has often put it at odds with New York critics and dealers." It is argued that Chicago art is rarely found in Chicago museums; some of the most remarkable Chicago artworks are found in other cities (such as the brilliantly warped epic drawings of Henry Darger
at the American Folk Art Museum
in New York
, or Carlos Cortez'
magnificent collection of early twentieth-century Chicago "Wobbly" (Industrial Workers of the World
) woodcut prints, now in the library at Wayne State University
in Indiana
.
.jpg)
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago was founded in 1879, from the remains of an earlier school founded in 1866 (thus the school predates the museum of the same name). Early students and faculty were conservative and derivative in their tastes, imitating popular European models. Arthur B. Davies
, a former SAIC student and one of "the Eight
" was considered a disappointment for being a member of a radical group of urban modernists. In 1913, SAIC students held a protest with costumes and bonfires against the Chicago showing of the Armory Show
, a collection of the best new modern art; the newspapers described the students' activity as a riot.
Only a year later the African-American realist
Archibald J. Motley
, graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; he kept his modern, jazz-influenced paintings secret for some years after.
For many years the Art Institute of Chicago regularly held annual exhibits of local artists, but these ended decades ago. Mary Agnes Yerkes
, (1886–1989), was an American Impressionist painter and one such exhibitor at AIC from 1912-1915. Born in Oak Park, she studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where she also taught, and the at the currently named School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is noted for her plein-air painting while camping the American West and its National Parks.
and Albin Polasek
.
The Chicago art scene was not strictly an all-boys club however; Sr. Maria Stanisia was able to overcome the patriarchal attitudes both within early twentieth century Chicago
and the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church
to become acclaimed as one of the greatest painters in the field of religious art. Another woman artist
Gertrude Abercrombie
who like Stanisia attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, sold her surrealist paintings in art fairs that took place near the Art Institute of Chicago
.
, with his "excruciatingly detailed surfaces depicting things in states of decay." Eldzier Cortor
documented African-American life for the WPA
. Vera Berdich, an influential surrealist printmaker, taught many future Chicago Imagists
at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
was born in Sweden and only spent a few years in the 1950s in Chicago, but he sold his first works here, 5 pieces at the 57th Street Art Fair
for $25.
Post-War art in Chicago was more figurative and less abstract than the New York
fashion dictated, and was largely ignored by New York dealers and critics. Chicago artists rejected the abstract aesthetics of New York modernists, preferring strong surrealism, "following their own vision," and "savage political satire."
, a fiber artist, switched from weaving to large, free-standing fiber sculptures which "redefined the art form".
, organized a series of exhibits at the Hyde Park Art Center
. Their art was notable for its surrealism and cartoon-influenced grotesques.
Strictly speaking, they were three different groups: The earliest was the "Monster Roster", which included Cosmo Campoli
, Leon Golub
, Nancy Spero
, and Karl Wirsum
; then the "Hairy Who", which included Art Green
, Gladys Nilsson
, and Jim Nutt
; and finally the Chicago Imagists
, which included Roger Brown
, Ed Paschke
, and Barbara Rossi
.
According to Imagist Ed Paschke
, the Imagists felt liberated by a lack of critical coverage. "There was a sense that no one much cared what we did here. We weren't going to get a whole lot of national attention. We could do what we wanted to do." After Paschke's death, in 2004, a New York critic infamously said that Paschke's "contribution to the art of his time was somewhat obscured by his distance from New York." At that same time, Chicago artists Tony Fitzpatrick and Wesley Kimler and art consultant Paul Klein stirred outrage when they reported that not a single Chicago museum had any of Paschke's work on display (a claim that was later disputed).
In 1972 the Chicago Imagists were given recognition in a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art
.
, including Arne Besser, and Richard Estes
. Many photorealists were collected by Morton Neumann "against the grain of the prevailing critical thought at the time" (which espoused abstract expressionism), and exhibited at Chicago's Terra Museum of American Art.
Robert Cozzolino sees this positively, stating that we must "recognize a powerful Chicago diaspora." Such artists include Claes Oldenburg
, Elizabeth Murray
, Richard Estes
, Robert Indiana
, Joan Mitchell
, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Staff Brandl
and many others.
Although no overarching theme or style characterizes Chicago’s contemporary art, many contemporary critics contend that institutional support has favored Neo-Conceptual work almost to exclusion. Chicago art is nevertheless diverse and pluralistic, as is art in general. Contemporary Chicago artists continue to explore personal styles. Although abstraction has never been as strong in Chicago as in New York, there are noteworthy Chicago abstract artists, such as William Conger , who paints brightly colored, sprightly designs, and Rodney Carswell, whose work is more formal and cooler; and conceptual artists such as photographer Jeanne Dunning and installation artist Kay Rosen. Chicago’s other notable contemporary artists are too numerous to name; but a few who would make any list are Kerry James Marshall
, Dan Peterman
, Gregg Bordowitz, Julia Fish, Wesley Kimler
, Tony Fitzpatrick and Iñigo Manglano-Ovallé
.
paints psychologically penetrating portraits of bar patrons and jazz musicians which are very popular in France, but he is almost unknown in Chicago. Laurie Hogin continues the grotesque Chicago tradition with lush, Dutch-style portraits of cartoonishly savage animals. Ellen Lanyon's paintings show "fairy-tale gentleness and antiquarian whimsy." Riva Lehrer, herself disabled, paints intense, sympathetic, surreal portraits of disabled persons. Richard Loving paints luminous, spiritual abstractions. Tim Lowly
, who has mastered the difficult medium of egg tempera, paints heartbreaking spiritual pictures of seemingly ill children. Audrey Niffenegger
paints beautifully weird surreal images and writes acclaimed fiction as well. Frank Piatek paints not-quite-abstracts of giant, writhing tube-forms. Judith Raphael paints pugnacious little girls posed like classical artworks. Patrick Skoff
leaves his paintings in public places for people to find and keep.Matt Lamb
, a self taught artist, creates luminous expressionist paintings with bold uses of color, whimsical figures and symbols, and unlikely combinations of mediums. Maria Tomasula paints exquisitely realistic, symbolic still-lives. Wesley Kimler
paints expressive, gestural, hybrid paintings that combine abstract and figurative elements in theatrical, sometimes grotesque and highly creative ways. John F. Miller taught for a few decades at the SAIC and, during the bulk of that period, produced paitings and some drawings in an abstract style. Since the late 1990s, Miller has produced most of is work using compters and graphics software. Mark Staff Brandl
combines the influences of comic books, sign-painting and philosophy in talented paintings and installations which are accessible, intellectually demanding, and warily subversive.
sculpts ruggedly abstract commentaries on social issues. Kerry James Marshall
paints and sculpts multi-media works commenting on African-American life.
scene, gaining notoriety through artists centered around the Institute of Design
such as Harry Callahan
, Aaron Siskind
, Leon Lewandowski as well as in the work of nanny-savant Vivian Maier
. Bob Thall's
beautiful, bleak photographs of Chicago-area architecture have also won much acclaim.
, whose hand-silkscreened posters have advertised many a rock band, and fantasist Scott Gustafson
. Tony Fitzpatrick etches wild, detailed, tattoo-like pop images.
art, involving local artists and community members.
Today, Jeff Zimmerman paints photorealistic portrait murals, which can be found in various neighborhoods and restaurants in Chicago and Cincinnati.
Chicago has a strong tradition of satirical, even grotesque art and illustration. The early books of L. Frank Baum
were illustrated with the strange work of William Wallace Denslow
. The Chicago tradition of political satire is seen in installation artist Öyvind Fahlström, cartoonish artist Hy Roth, and actual cartoonists Heather McAdams and Nicole Hollander
. Other Chicago cartoonists recognised by the art world include Lynda Barry
, Dan Clowes, Jay Lynch
and Chris Ware
(whose work was shown at the 2002 Whitney Biennial
). Significant comics artists from Chicago include Jessica Abel
, "Herblock" (Herbert Block)
, animator Walt Disney
, adventure satirist Phil Foglio
, and goth cartoonist Jill Thompson
.
," according to critic Andrew Patner.
Manierre Dawson
was an early self-taught artist, who began painting abstracts in 1910. He was invited to display in the Armory Show
.
In the 1990s, a group of Chicago collectors, including Bob Roth, founder of the Chicago Reader, and Ann Nathan and Judy Saslow, both of whom have opened acclaimed galleries, organized Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
, which leads tours of Midwestern self-taught artists and has its own exhibition space.
Paul Waggoner, an eccentric himself, was an art dealer and champion of outsider art.
Carl Hammer, an art dealer in Chicago, has handled much strange, figurative outsider art
, including the epic novel, illustrated with hermaphroditic girls traced from coloring books, of Henry Darger
, and the naive portraits of society ladies of Lee Godie. Hammer also represents Mr. Imagination, a self-taught bottlecap muralist Mr. Imagination, whose work is in several museums, also participated in the 2007 public art project, "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet
".
, along with the Art Institute of Chicago
and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, attempted to put on a show of contemporary Chicago art. Called "The Chicago Show", it was supposed to celebrate Chicago's artistic diversity. Embarrassingly, 84 of the 90 artists chosen by the 5-member blind jury were found to be white. The organizers published an apology in the exhibit catalogue and invited twenty minority artists who had not been juried in to participate. Half of the invited artists, angered by this condescension, refused and organized a counter-exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center
.
On April 15, 1989, the same night that the Hyde Park Art Center
celebrated its 50th anniversary, a devastating fire destroyed most of an entire block of important galleries and art spaces in the River North gallery district
.
In spring of 1996, the Feigen, Inc. gallery's exhibit of Gregory Green's "10,000 Doses" and "Recipe for Making 'LSD
' in the Kitchen" was raided by the Chicago police
, who confiscated and broke open the artworks. No drugs were found.
In 1996 the Museum of Contemporary Art
, to get over the embarrassment of "The Chicago Show", attempted a survey of Chicago Art called "Art in Chicago: 1945-1995". It was criticized by the press as cramped, inadequate, and incomprehensive. Its catalogue was judged a disappointment by Dennis Adrian, an art critic and participant, who called it "visually ... an atrocity of staggering proportions."
, one of Chicago's two major newspapers, never had gallery or art listings and fired its sole dedicated fine arts reporter, Alan G. Artner, in 2009.
And the Chicago Sun-Times
, the other of Chicago's two major newspapers, has no gallery or art listings and no dedicated arts reporter, although Kevin Nance has covered some fine art issues along with movies and popular culture.
The New Art Examiner
(from Chicago) and Dialogue
magazine (Detroit) reported on Chicago and midwestern arts communities until they both folded in 2002. Since then no arts journal covers the American midwest art world.
Chicago Gallery News, a glossy color magazine published three times a year, lists gallery shows but has no articles. Gallery Guide magazine publishes a Chicago/midwest edition which is similar.
Local artists' interests are represented by the Chicago Artists' Coalition
, a nonprofit advocacy organization, which has a monthly newsletter, the Chicago Artists' News.
Lumpen Magazine has been seriously covering the art scene in Chicago since the 1990s.
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing, normally on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable...
, illustrations, textile art
Textile arts
Textile arts are those arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects.Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization, and the methods and materials used to make them have expanded enormously, while...
, sculpture
Sculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
, ceramics and other visual artworks produced in Chicago or by people with a connection to Chicago. Since World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Chicago visual art has had a strong individualistic streak, little influenced by outside fashions. "One of the unique characteristics of Chicago," said Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts curator Bob Cozzolino, "is there's always been a very pronounced effort to not be derivative, to not follow the status quo." The Chicago art world has been described as having "a stubborn sense ... of tolerant pluralism." However, Chicago's art scene is "critically neglected." Critic Andrew Patner has said, "Chicago's commitment to figurative painting, dating back to the post-War period, has often put it at odds with New York critics and dealers." It is argued that Chicago art is rarely found in Chicago museums; some of the most remarkable Chicago artworks are found in other cities (such as the brilliantly warped epic drawings of Henry Darger
Henry Darger
Henry Joseph Darger, Jr. was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a custodian in Chicago, Illinois...
at the American Folk Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum
The American Folk Art Museum is a museum devoted to American folk art, as well as the work of international self-taught artists. It has branches at 45 West 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in Midtown Manhattan .In May 2011 the Museum of Modern Art bought its 53rd Street location...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, or Carlos Cortez'
Carlos Cortez
Carlos Cortez was a poet, graphic artist, photographer, muralist and political activist, active for six decades in the Industrial Workers of the World....
magnificent collection of early twentieth-century Chicago "Wobbly" (Industrial Workers of the World
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World is an international union. At its peak in 1923, the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. Its membership declined dramatically after a 1924 split brought on by internal conflict...
) woodcut prints, now in the library at Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
in Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
.
Early Days: Before the War
Arthur B. Davies
Arthur Bowen Davies was an avant-garde American artist and patron.-Biography:He was born in Utica, New York and studied at the Chicago Academy of Design from 1879 to 1882...
, a former SAIC student and one of "the Eight
The Eight
The Eight may refer to:*Ashcan School, an American school of painters*The Eight , a Hungarian art movement*The Eight ...
" was considered a disappointment for being a member of a radical group of urban modernists. In 1913, SAIC students held a protest with costumes and bonfires against the Chicago showing of the Armory Show
Armory Show
Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors...
, a collection of the best new modern art; the newspapers described the students' activity as a riot.
Only a year later the African-American realist
Realism (visual arts)
Realism in the visual arts is a style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see. The term is used in different senses in art history; it may mean the same as illusionism, the representation of subjects with visual mimesis or verisimilitude, or may mean an emphasis on the actuality of...
Archibald J. Motley
Archibald Motley
Archibald John Motley, Junior was an African-American painter. He studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1910s, graduating in 1918...
, graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago; he kept his modern, jazz-influenced paintings secret for some years after.
For many years the Art Institute of Chicago regularly held annual exhibits of local artists, but these ended decades ago. Mary Agnes Yerkes
Mary Agnes Yerkes
Mary Agnes Yerkes, , , was an American Impressionist painter, photographer and artisan. She was skilled in the mediums of oil, pastel and watercolor. Her professional career was cut short by the Great Depression, but she still continued to paint well into her nineties with a passion for her craft...
, (1886–1989), was an American Impressionist painter and one such exhibitor at AIC from 1912-1915. Born in Oak Park, she studied at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where she also taught, and the at the currently named School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is noted for her plein-air painting while camping the American West and its National Parks.
Interbellum: Chicago Arts between the World Wars
The time period between the World Wars witnessed an outpouring of artistic creativity in Chicago, lead by artists of the calibre of Stanislav Szukalski, Todros GellerTodros Geller
Todros Geller was a Ukrainian American artist and teacher best known as a master printmaker and a leading artist among Chicago’s art community.-Early life and education:...
and Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek
Albin Polasek was a Czech-American sculptor and educator. He created more than four hundred works during his career, two hundred of which are now displayed in the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in Winter Park, Florida.-Career:Born as Albín Polášek in Frenštát, Moravia , Polasek...
.
The Chicago art scene was not strictly an all-boys club however; Sr. Maria Stanisia was able to overcome the patriarchal attitudes both within early twentieth century Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
to become acclaimed as one of the greatest painters in the field of religious art. Another woman artist
Women artists
Women artists have been involved in making art in most times and places. Often certain certain media are associated with women, particularly textile arts; however, these gender roles in art change in different cultures and communities...
Gertrude Abercrombie
Gertrude Abercrombie
Gertrude Abercrombie was an American painter based in Chicago. Called "the queen of the bohemian artists," Abercrombie was involved in the Chicago jazz scene and friends with musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan, whose music inspired her own creative work.-Personal...
who like Stanisia attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, sold her surrealist paintings in art fairs that took place near the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
.
1940s
Early evidence of Chicago's unique style came with Ivan AlbrightIvan Albright
Ivan Le Lorraine Albright was an American magic realist painter and artist, most renowned for his self-portraits, character studies, and still lifes.-Youth:...
, with his "excruciatingly detailed surfaces depicting things in states of decay." Eldzier Cortor
Eldzier Cortor
Eldzier Cortor is an African-American artist and printmaker. His work typically features elongated nude figures in intimate settings, influenced by both traditional African art and European surrealism.-Life and career:...
documented African-American life for the WPA
Works Progress Administration
The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...
. Vera Berdich, an influential surrealist printmaker, taught many future Chicago Imagists
Chicago Imagists
The Chicago Imagists is the name of a group of representational artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center in the late 1960s. Their work was known for grotesquerie, surrealism and complete uninvolvement with New York art world trends...
at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
1950s: Individuality, Realism, Surrealism
Claes OldenburgClaes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
was born in Sweden and only spent a few years in the 1950s in Chicago, but he sold his first works here, 5 pieces at the 57th Street Art Fair
57th Street Art Fair
The 57th Street Art Fair is Chicago's oldest juried art fair. Founded in 1948, it is held the first weekend in June every year on 57th Street between Kimbark and Kenwood Avenues, in the Chicago neighborhood of Hyde Park, directly north of the University of Chicago campus...
for $25.
Post-War art in Chicago was more figurative and less abstract than the New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
fashion dictated, and was largely ignored by New York dealers and critics. Chicago artists rejected the abstract aesthetics of New York modernists, preferring strong surrealism, "following their own vision," and "savage political satire."
1960s
Claire ZeislerClaire Zeisler
Claire Zeisler was a noted American fiber artist who expanded the expressive qualities of knotted and braided threads....
, a fiber artist, switched from weaving to large, free-standing fiber sculptures which "redefined the art form".
The Chicago Imagists
In the late 1960s, a group of former students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, many of whom had been mentored by teacher-artist Ray YoshidaRay Yoshida
Raymond "Ray" Kakuo Yoshida was a Chicago artist known for his paintings and collages, and a teacher at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1959 to 2005...
, organized a series of exhibits at the Hyde Park Art Center
Hyde Park Art Center
The Hyde Park Art Center is a visual arts organization and the oldest alternative exhibition space in the city of Chicago. Since 2006, HPAC has been located just north of Hyde Park Boulevard, at 5020 S.Cornell Avenue, in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.-Beginnings:The Hyde Park Art...
. Their art was notable for its surrealism and cartoon-influenced grotesques.
Strictly speaking, they were three different groups: The earliest was the "Monster Roster", which included Cosmo Campoli
Cosmo Campoli
Cosmo Campoli was a Chicago sculptor, specializing in strong, surreal bird and egg imagery. He was hampered in later years by bipolar disorder.-Exhibits and Career:...
, Leon Golub
Leon Golub
Leon Golub was an American painter. He was born in Chicago, Illinois, where he also studied, receiving his BA at the University of Chicago in 1942, his BFA and MFA at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1949 and 1950, respectively.He was married to and collaborated with the artist Nancy Spero...
, Nancy Spero
Nancy Spero
Nancy Spero was an American visual artist.-Life and work:Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Spero lived for much of her life in New York City. She was married to, and collaborated with artist Leon Golub....
, and Karl Wirsum
Karl Wirsum
Karl Wirsum is an American artist. A member of the notorious Chicago artistic group The Hairy Who, he helped set the foundation for Chicago's art scene in the 1970s. Wirsum is primarily a painter, though he has worked with prints, sculpture and even digital art.He received a B.F.A...
; then the "Hairy Who", which included Art Green
Art Green
Arthur Green is an American professor and painter. Green was a member of the Chicago artistic group, The Hairy Who in the 1960s, a member of the University of Waterloo’s faculty for over 30 years and has been an influential painter for over 40 years.-Early life:Green grew up in Indiana. His father...
, Gladys Nilsson
Gladys Nilsson
Gladys M. Nilsson is an American artist, one of the original Chicago Imagists, a group in the 1960s and 1970s who turned to representational art...
, and Jim Nutt
Jim Nutt
James T "Jim" Nutt is an American artist who was a founding member of the Chicago surrealist art movement known as the Chicago Imagists, or the Hairy Who...
; and finally the Chicago Imagists
Chicago Imagists
The Chicago Imagists is the name of a group of representational artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago who exhibited at the Hyde Park Art Center in the late 1960s. Their work was known for grotesquerie, surrealism and complete uninvolvement with New York art world trends...
, which included Roger Brown
Roger Brown (artist)
Roger Brown was an American artist who was a member of the Chicago Imagists, a group in the 1960s and 1970s who turned to representational art. His paintings are owned by many of the most important art museums in the US.He was born in Hamilton, Alabama and raised in Opelika...
, Ed Paschke
Ed Paschke
Edward Francis Paschke was a Polish American painter. His childhood interest in animation and cartoons, as well as his father's creativity in wood carving and construction, led him toward a career in art...
, and Barbara Rossi
Barbara Rossi
Barbara Rossi is a Chicago artist, one of the original Chicago Imagists, a group in the 1960s and 1970s who turned to representational art. She first exhibited with them at the Hyde Park Art Center in 1969...
.
According to Imagist Ed Paschke
Ed Paschke
Edward Francis Paschke was a Polish American painter. His childhood interest in animation and cartoons, as well as his father's creativity in wood carving and construction, led him toward a career in art...
, the Imagists felt liberated by a lack of critical coverage. "There was a sense that no one much cared what we did here. We weren't going to get a whole lot of national attention. We could do what we wanted to do." After Paschke's death, in 2004, a New York critic infamously said that Paschke's "contribution to the art of his time was somewhat obscured by his distance from New York." At that same time, Chicago artists Tony Fitzpatrick and Wesley Kimler and art consultant Paul Klein stirred outrage when they reported that not a single Chicago museum had any of Paschke's work on display (a claim that was later disputed).
In 1972 the Chicago Imagists were given recognition in a show at the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
.
1970s
Chicago produced several photorealistsPhotorealism
Photorealism is the genre of painting based on using the camera and photographs to gather information and then from this information creating a painting that appears photographic...
, including Arne Besser, and Richard Estes
Richard Estes
Richard Estes is an American artist, best known for his photorealist paintings. The paintings generally consist of reflective, clean, and inanimate city and geometric landscapes. He is regarded as one of the founders of the international photo-realist movement of the late 1960s, with such painters...
. Many photorealists were collected by Morton Neumann "against the grain of the prevailing critical thought at the time" (which espoused abstract expressionism), and exhibited at Chicago's Terra Museum of American Art.
Chicago Artists Internationally
Over the last few decades, many contemporary Chicago artists have become internationally successful. A persistent problem for the development of art scenes in Chicago has been the fact that, in the past, a large number of artists began in Chicago, but had to relocate elsewhere before gaining attention. CuratorCurator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
Robert Cozzolino sees this positively, stating that we must "recognize a powerful Chicago diaspora." Such artists include Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg
Claes Oldenburg is a Swedish sculptor, best known for his public art installations typically featuring very large replicas of everyday objects...
, Elizabeth Murray
Elizabeth Murray (artist)
Elizabeth Murray was an American painter, printmaker and draughtsman. Her works are in many major public collections, including those of the Solomon R...
, Richard Estes
Richard Estes
Richard Estes is an American artist, best known for his photorealist paintings. The paintings generally consist of reflective, clean, and inanimate city and geometric landscapes. He is regarded as one of the founders of the international photo-realist movement of the late 1960s, with such painters...
, Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana
Robert Indiana is an American artist associated with the Pop Art movement.-Life and work:Robert Indiana was born Robert Clark in New Castle, Indiana. His family relocated to Indianapolis, where he graduated from Arsenal Technical High School...
, Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell
Joan Mitchell was a "second generation" abstract expressionist painter. She was an essential member of the American Abstract expressionist movement, even though much of her career took place in France. Along with Lee Krasner, Grace Hartigan, and Helen Frankenthaler she was one of her era's few...
, Georgia O’Keeffe, Mark Staff Brandl
Mark Staff Brandl
Mark Staff Brandl is an American-born artist, art historian and art critic now living primarily in Switzerland.-History:...
and many others.
Kerry James Marshall
Kerry James Marshall is an artist born in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles and now lives in Chicago where he previously taught at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago...
, Dan Peterman
Dan Peterman
Dan Peterman is an internationally known artist who is recognized for his work with ecologically themed installation art. Additionally, he is employed as a professor of art at the University of Illinois, Chicago.-Work:...
, Gregg Bordowitz, Julia Fish, Wesley Kimler
Wesley Kimler
Wesley Kimler an American artist based in Chicago, Illinois, is known for his colossal paintings, up to 15 feet high and 27 feet wide...
, Tony Fitzpatrick and Iñigo Manglano-Ovallé
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle is an American artist.He graduated from Williams College with a BA in 1983, and from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in 1989....
.
Painters
Robert GuinanRobert Guinan
Robert Guinan is a Chicago-based American painter. The subject matter of his work includes but has not been limited to street performers, musicians, barflies, historical scenes, landscapes and building structures...
paints psychologically penetrating portraits of bar patrons and jazz musicians which are very popular in France, but he is almost unknown in Chicago. Laurie Hogin continues the grotesque Chicago tradition with lush, Dutch-style portraits of cartoonishly savage animals. Ellen Lanyon's paintings show "fairy-tale gentleness and antiquarian whimsy." Riva Lehrer, herself disabled, paints intense, sympathetic, surreal portraits of disabled persons. Richard Loving paints luminous, spiritual abstractions. Tim Lowly
Tim Lowly
Tim Lowly is a Chicago artist, musician, and teacher. He is known for compassionate egg tempera pictures of children in mysterious circumstances.-Biography:...
, who has mastered the difficult medium of egg tempera, paints heartbreaking spiritual pictures of seemingly ill children. Audrey Niffenegger
Audrey Niffenegger
Audrey Niffenegger is an American writer, artist and academic.-Writing:A film version of Niffenegger's debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife , starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, was released in August 2009.She has also written a graphic novel, or "novel in pictures" as Niffenegger calls it,...
paints beautifully weird surreal images and writes acclaimed fiction as well. Frank Piatek paints not-quite-abstracts of giant, writhing tube-forms. Judith Raphael paints pugnacious little girls posed like classical artworks. Patrick Skoff
Patrick Skoff
thumb|Local Chicago artist Patrick Skoff.|300pxPatrick Skoff is a local Chicago artist most notable for his 'art scavenger hunts' in which he leaves his poster-size paintings around the streets of Chicago for people to find and keep....
leaves his paintings in public places for people to find and keep.Matt Lamb
Matt Lamb
Matt Lamb is an American painter.- Life :Matt Lamb was born in Chicago, 1932. He was the son of a funeral director Matt Lamb Sr. who bought the Blake-Lamb funeral home in 1928. At the age of 18 Matt Lamb Jr. became a partner in the business and transformed the funeral parlor into a prominent chain...
, a self taught artist, creates luminous expressionist paintings with bold uses of color, whimsical figures and symbols, and unlikely combinations of mediums. Maria Tomasula paints exquisitely realistic, symbolic still-lives. Wesley Kimler
Wesley Kimler
Wesley Kimler an American artist based in Chicago, Illinois, is known for his colossal paintings, up to 15 feet high and 27 feet wide...
paints expressive, gestural, hybrid paintings that combine abstract and figurative elements in theatrical, sometimes grotesque and highly creative ways. John F. Miller taught for a few decades at the SAIC and, during the bulk of that period, produced paitings and some drawings in an abstract style. Since the late 1990s, Miller has produced most of is work using compters and graphics software. Mark Staff Brandl
Mark Staff Brandl
Mark Staff Brandl is an American-born artist, art historian and art critic now living primarily in Switzerland.-History:...
combines the influences of comic books, sign-painting and philosophy in talented paintings and installations which are accessible, intellectually demanding, and warily subversive.
Sculptors, Textile Art
Cat Chow constructs dresses out of subversive materials. Richard HuntRichard Hunt (sculptor)
Richard Hunt is an internationally renowned sculptor.He was born in 1935 on Chicago's South Side. From an early age he was interested in the arts, as his mother was an artist. As a young boy, Hunt began to show enthusiasm and talent in artistic disciplines such as drawing and painting, and also...
sculpts ruggedly abstract commentaries on social issues. Kerry James Marshall
Kerry James Marshall
Kerry James Marshall is an artist born in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in South Central Los Angeles and now lives in Chicago where he previously taught at the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago...
paints and sculpts multi-media works commenting on African-American life.
Photography
These same impulses also appeared in Chicago's lively Street photographyStreet photography
Street photography is a type of documentary photography that features subjects in candid situations within public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, political conventions and other settings....
scene, gaining notoriety through artists centered around the Institute of Design
IIT Institute of Design
Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology , originally founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design.- History :...
such as Harry Callahan
Harry Callahan
Harry Morey Callahan was an influential twentieth century American photographer. Born in Detroit, Michigan, he began teaching himself photography in 1938. He formed a friendship with Todd Webb who was also destined to become a photographer. A talk given by Ansel Adams in 1941 inspired him to take...
, Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind
Aaron Siskind was an American abstract expressionist photographer. In his biography he wrote that he began his foray into photography when he received a camera for a wedding gift and began taking pictures on his honeymoon. He quickly realized the artistic potential this offered...
, Leon Lewandowski as well as in the work of nanny-savant Vivian Maier
Vivian Maier
Vivian Maier was an American amateur street photographer who was born in New York but grew up in France, and after returning to the U.S., worked for about forty years as a nanny in Chicago...
. Bob Thall's
Bob Thall
Bob Thall is a Chicago photographer specializing in street scenes. He is Chair of the Photography Department at Columbia College Chicago. His photographs, of gritty urban street scenes, have been exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art in New York...
beautiful, bleak photographs of Chicago-area architecture have also won much acclaim.
Illustration, Printmaking
Contemporary illustrators include Jay RyanJay Ryan (artist)
Jay Ryan is a poster maker and rock musician. He is noted for his squirrel posters as well as being a bassist in the band Dianogah....
, whose hand-silkscreened posters have advertised many a rock band, and fantasist Scott Gustafson
Scott Gustafson
Scott Gustafson is an American artist. He attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He originally had ambitions of becoming an animator, but has worked primarily as an illustrator for the past twenty-five years...
. Tony Fitzpatrick etches wild, detailed, tattoo-like pop images.
Public Art
Chicago had a revival, dating to the 1960s, of public muralMural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
art, involving local artists and community members.
Today, Jeff Zimmerman paints photorealistic portrait murals, which can be found in various neighborhoods and restaurants in Chicago and Cincinnati.
Irreverence, Satire
L. Frank Baum
Lyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
were illustrated with the strange work of William Wallace Denslow
William Wallace Denslow
William Wallace Denslow – usually credited as W. W. Denslow – was an illustrator and caricaturist remembered for his work in collaboration with author L. Frank Baum, especially his illustrations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
. The Chicago tradition of political satire is seen in installation artist Öyvind Fahlström, cartoonish artist Hy Roth, and actual cartoonists Heather McAdams and Nicole Hollander
Nicole Hollander
Nicole Hollander is an American cartoonist and writer. Her daily comic strip Sylvia is syndicated to newspapers nationally by Tribune Media Services and also can be seen on her blog, BadGirl Chats....
. Other Chicago cartoonists recognised by the art world include Lynda Barry
Lynda Barry
Lynda Barry is an American cartoonist and author. One of the most successful non-mainstream American cartoonists, Barry is perhaps best known for her weekly comic strip Ernie Pook's Comeek. Barry's cartoons often view family life from the perspective of pre-teen girls from the wrong side of the...
, Dan Clowes, Jay Lynch
Jay Lynch
Jay Lynch is an American cartoonist who played a key role in the underground comix movement with his Bijou Funnies and other titles. His work is sometimes signed Jayzey Lynch. He has contributed to Mad, and in 2008, he expanded into the children's book field.-Early life and career:Born in Orange,...
and Chris Ware
Chris Ware
Franklin Christenson Ware , is an American comic book artist and cartoonist, widely known for his Acme Novelty Library series and the graphic novel Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, he resides in the Chicago area, Illinois...
(whose work was shown at the 2002 Whitney Biennial
Whitney Biennial
The Whitney Biennial is a biennale exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, USA. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932, the first biennial was in 1973...
). Significant comics artists from Chicago include Jessica Abel
Jessica Abel
Jessica Abel is an American comic book writer and artist, known as the creator of such works as Life Sucks, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, Soundtrack, La Perdida, Mirror, Window, Radio: An Illustrated Guide , and the omnibus series Artbabe.Abel has stated that her major work is not...
, "Herblock" (Herbert Block)
Herblock
Herbert Lawrence Block, commonly known as Herblock , was an American editorial cartoonist and author best known for his commentary on national domestic and foreign policy from a liberal perspective.-Career:...
, animator Walt Disney
Walt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
, adventure satirist Phil Foglio
Phil Foglio
Philip "Phil" Foglio is an American cartoonist and comic book artist best known for his humorous science fiction and fantasy work.-Early life and career:...
, and goth cartoonist Jill Thompson
Jill Thompson
Jill Thompson is an American comic book writer and illustrator. Probably better known for her work on Neil Gaiman's The Sandman characters and her own Scary Godmother series, she has also worked on The Invisibles, Swamp Thing, and Wonder Woman.-Career:Jill Thompson illustrated The Sandman story...
.
Self-Taught Artists and Outsider Art
"Chicago emerged early on as an outpost for outsider artOutsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
," according to critic Andrew Patner.
Manierre Dawson
Manierre Dawson
Manierre Dawson was a painter and sculptor born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, but lived most of his life in Michigan...
was an early self-taught artist, who began painting abstracts in 1910. He was invited to display in the Armory Show
Armory Show
Many exhibitions have been held in the vast spaces of U.S. National Guard armories, but the Armory Show refers to the 1913 International Exhibition of Modern Art that was organized by the Association of American Painters and Sculptors...
.
In the 1990s, a group of Chicago collectors, including Bob Roth, founder of the Chicago Reader, and Ann Nathan and Judy Saslow, both of whom have opened acclaimed galleries, organized Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of and appreciation for intuitive and outsider art through a program of education and exhibition. Since its founding in 1991, Intuit has emerged as an international...
, which leads tours of Midwestern self-taught artists and has its own exhibition space.
Paul Waggoner, an eccentric himself, was an art dealer and champion of outsider art.
Carl Hammer, an art dealer in Chicago, has handled much strange, figurative outsider art
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
, including the epic novel, illustrated with hermaphroditic girls traced from coloring books, of Henry Darger
Henry Darger
Henry Joseph Darger, Jr. was a reclusive American writer and artist who worked as a custodian in Chicago, Illinois...
, and the naive portraits of society ladies of Lee Godie. Hammer also represents Mr. Imagination, a self-taught bottlecap muralist Mr. Imagination, whose work is in several museums, also participated in the 2007 public art project, "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet
Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet
Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet is a public art project dedicated to increasing awareness of global warming.A nonprofit corporation, "Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet" sponsored a Chicago public art exhibit of 125 globes decorated with solutions to global warming, placed in...
".
Troubles and Controversies
In the 1980s, the Museum of Contemporary ArtMuseum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
, along with the Art Institute of Chicago
Art Institute of Chicago
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...
and Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs, attempted to put on a show of contemporary Chicago art. Called "The Chicago Show", it was supposed to celebrate Chicago's artistic diversity. Embarrassingly, 84 of the 90 artists chosen by the 5-member blind jury were found to be white. The organizers published an apology in the exhibit catalogue and invited twenty minority artists who had not been juried in to participate. Half of the invited artists, angered by this condescension, refused and organized a counter-exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center
Chicago Cultural Center
The Chicago Cultural Center, opened in 1897, is a Chicago Landmark building that houses the city's official reception venue where the Mayor of Chicago has welcomed Presidents and royalty, diplomats and community leaders. It is located in the Loop, across Michigan Avenue from Millennium Park...
.
On April 15, 1989, the same night that the Hyde Park Art Center
Hyde Park Art Center
The Hyde Park Art Center is a visual arts organization and the oldest alternative exhibition space in the city of Chicago. Since 2006, HPAC has been located just north of Hyde Park Boulevard, at 5020 S.Cornell Avenue, in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.-Beginnings:The Hyde Park Art...
celebrated its 50th anniversary, a devastating fire destroyed most of an entire block of important galleries and art spaces in the River North gallery district
River North Gallery District, Near North Side, Chicago
The River North Gallery District, in Chicago, is in the Near North Side, Chicago. It hosts the largest concentration of art galleries in the United States, outside of Manhattan. A common definition puts the District in the area north of the Merchandise Mart, south of Chicago Avenue, east of...
.
In spring of 1996, the Feigen, Inc. gallery's exhibit of Gregory Green's "10,000 Doses" and "Recipe for Making 'LSD
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, abbreviated LSD or LSD-25, also known as lysergide and colloquially as acid, is a semisynthetic psychedelic drug of the ergoline family, well known for its psychological effects which can include altered thinking processes, closed and open eye visuals, synaesthesia, an...
' in the Kitchen" was raided by the Chicago police
Chicago Police Department
The Chicago Police Department, also known as the CPD, is the principal law enforcement agency of Chicago, Illinois, in the United States, under the jurisdiction of the Mayor of Chicago. It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest local law enforcement agency in the...
, who confiscated and broke open the artworks. No drugs were found.
In 1996 the Museum of Contemporary Art
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The museum, which was established in 1967, is one of the world's largest contemporary art venues...
, to get over the embarrassment of "The Chicago Show", attempted a survey of Chicago Art called "Art in Chicago: 1945-1995". It was criticized by the press as cramped, inadequate, and incomprehensive. Its catalogue was judged a disappointment by Dennis Adrian, an art critic and participant, who called it "visually ... an atrocity of staggering proportions."
Visual arts coverage
Chicago news media pay almost no attention to Chicago-area art. In 2009, the Chicago Reader, an alternative weekly newspaper, reduced its formerly complete art listings of galleries and museums and regular art reviews by Fred Camper to "a smattering of listings and pictures". The Chicago TribuneChicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, one of Chicago's two major newspapers, never had gallery or art listings and fired its sole dedicated fine arts reporter, Alan G. Artner, in 2009.
And the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
, the other of Chicago's two major newspapers, has no gallery or art listings and no dedicated arts reporter, although Kevin Nance has covered some fine art issues along with movies and popular culture.
The New Art Examiner
New Art Examiner
New Art Examiner was a Chicago-based art magazine. Founded in October 1973 by Derek Guthrie and Jane Addams Allen. Publication ceased in 2002.November 2011 will see the release of Essential New Art Examiner, an Anthology of representative articles and editors...
(from Chicago) and Dialogue
Dialogue (magazine)
Dialogue was an art magazine founded and published in Akron, and later Columbus, Ohio. It covered the arts of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, western Pennsylvania, Kentucky and northern Illinois...
magazine (Detroit) reported on Chicago and midwestern arts communities until they both folded in 2002. Since then no arts journal covers the American midwest art world.
Chicago Gallery News, a glossy color magazine published three times a year, lists gallery shows but has no articles. Gallery Guide magazine publishes a Chicago/midwest edition which is similar.
Local artists' interests are represented by the Chicago Artists' Coalition
Chicago Artists' Coalition
Chicago Artists' Coalition is a non-profit arts advocacy and career organization based in Chicago and open to artists and non-artists alike. Its stated mission is to educate the public as to the value of the visual arts, be an advocate for arts issues, provide professional and educational...
, a nonprofit advocacy organization, which has a monthly newsletter, the Chicago Artists' News.
Lumpen Magazine has been seriously covering the art scene in Chicago since the 1990s.
See also
- Culture of ChicagoCulture of ChicagoThe culture of Chicago, Illinois, is particularly known for various forms of performing arts, such as improvisational comedy, and music, such as Chicago blues and soul...
- List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago
- Visual arts of the United StatesVisual arts of the United StatesAmerican art encompasses the history of painting and visual art in the United States. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, artists primarily painted landscapes and portraits in a realistic style. A parallel development taking shape in rural America was the American craft movement,...