Derek and Melissa’s Family
Our adventures, stories, and ramblings.
Adventures | Reviews
The Art Institute of Chicago
by Derek—2005.12.20 @ 0958
My rating: 5 out of 5
While I was in Chicago for the annual Midwest Clinic, I took some time with a friend to visit the Art Institute of Chicago. The museum was only a few blocks down the street from the hotel we were staying at, and with my military ID, I got in for free.
The museum is wonderful and my only regret is that I didn’t have enough time to enjoy everything, or stay long enough to soak in some of my favorite galleries or works of art. I tried to find some of my favorite pieces and review each, but some of the more obscure works are simply not available.
I think my favorite gallery was the Department of American Art which featured artists and illustrators that I’m most familiar with, including Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Mary Cassatt, Georgia, O’Keefe, and Frederic Remington. The real “surprise” galleries in the museum included the Arms and Armor and the amazing Thorne Miniature Rooms.
Below are a selection of favorites I saw at the museum.
by Abbott Handerson Thayer
I had never come across Abbott Handerson Thayer in my art history courses, and this image struck me as I first saw it in the hallway. It is a medium/large canvas (51.5” x 38”) and the style reminded me of my favorite illustrator, NC Wyeth.
The Fountain, Villa Torlonia, Frascati, Italy, 1907
by John Singer Sargent
I love Sargent’s work, and this is only one of several on display at the museum. I love is illustrative style and the loose brush strokes.
The Advance-Guard, or The Military Sacrifice (The Ambush), 1890
by Frederic Remington
Frederic Remington was an illustrator I studied in my illustration classes and it was fun to see his work on display here. He is well known for his western-themed work and this was one I thoroughly enjoyed for its great story-telling ability. The title of the painting offers three different viewpoints on the event from the different parties involved, and here we see the exact moment of sacrifice/ambush.
by Edward Hopper
This painting has been duplicated, satirized, and mimicked almost everywhere, from knock-off paintings to Hollywood movies. The scene is one you might see in any big city, and yet you could almost imagine it was a small-town diner, so its appeal is almost universal. I love it for its graphical layout and ‘designed’ quality.
by Winslow Homer
Here again, another artist I studied in my illustration classes. Winslow was an inspiration to many young illustrators and he had a style that evoked more emotion than typical genre scenes. Much more dynamic.
by Mary Cassatt
Although not my most favorite paintings in the collection, this artist gets a high-score because of the wonderful effect of a book one of my teachers had me read in my graduate studies.
Lydia Cassatt Reading The Morning Paper is a story of the artist Mary Cassatt as seen through the eyes of her sister, Lydia, who marvels at her sisters’ talent and the fact that she became the subject of many of her more famous works. The story was very interesting and made me look and appreciate masterpieces in a new way. The paperback also piqued my interest in books that explored the every day stories behind the legendary paintings.
Seeing these paintings in person made a very personal connection to the artist all thanks to this book. I’ll have to read it again.
by Grant Wood
This really isn’t my favorite painting, but it was great to actually see the original, in person! It’s not all together large in scale, but its looms large in the American conscious and pop-culture. It has to be one of the more parodied paintings and hence one of the most recognized. One thing that really stuck out to me was that the wife really looks much younger than the husband—something I had never really noticed before. If the people themselves don’t give their lifestyle away, the artist also chose to add visual “clues” to let us know about their traditional gender roles. The man holds the pitchfork and wears the overalls of his outdoor career. Behind the woman is a collection of houseplants, and she wears an overdress/apron showing her domestication. I also thought the woman’s stare was interesting: she seems to be longing for something and seems “unfulfilled.” The man, however, looks straight at the viewer and seems resolute, determined, and very strict. I wonder what their personal relationship is like?
No artist mentioned, but the craft of the pieces in this collection are astounding. I really enjoyed walking through the “Arms and Armor” collection looking at the swords, knives, and spears on display. It really made me think of the description of weapons in the Book of Mormon.
What really puzzled me about the full-size armor was that each had a piece of metal welded to the chest that looked like an arm rest, or something. Unfortunately, there was no docent available for questions.
Massachusetts Living Room and Kitchen (1675-1700), 1927-1937
Can I just say these miniatures were amazing? This collection has to be one of the hidden jems in the entire museum. There were dozens of these miniature rooms, each of a different room (e.g., drawing room, dining room, bedroom), different decade, and different place (e.g., England, France, America). My dad would absolute love this collection and you could spend hours inspecting all the details. Each room was a sort of light box, inset into the wall with light flowing through the windows and doors that looked out into nature. Breathtaking.
The one thing that did disappointed me in these works is that no artists are cited and no credit is really given for the craftmen who put it all together. The only mention is the lady who paid for and directed the artists, but I hope someday the artisans will be properly mentioned.
by Gustave Caillebotte
Too many favorites. This one, however, was one of the tops. Great graphic quality, great perspective, and stunning execution. The canvas was very large, and with ample room to view right in front, it was impossible not to stop and just stare.
Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881
Young Woman Sewing, c.1879
by Pierre Auguste Renoir
Two Sisters (On the Terrace), 1881 and Young Woman Sewing, c.1879 are two of my more favorite Renoir paintings and I was so elated to see them at the museum. Young Woman Sewing was one of the first works of art I saw in the museum and I almost had to do a double-take. I remember seeing this painting in the hallway of my parents home as a small print. It has always stuck with me as part of my growing up, but I never made the connection. It’s cool to think that my parents had a “Renoir” in their own home! Of course, they are very popular prints…. One memory I have of “Young Woman Sewing” is that the vase behind her always reminds me of a dragon, or even more specifically, the gargoyle-like well in Sir Toby Jingle’s Beastly Journey by Wallace Tripp.
At any rate, Renoir has such a vivid color pallet and his impressionist style is poignant. I loved it!
A Sunday on La Grande Jatte—1884, 1884-86
by Georges Seurat
You can’t visit the Art Institute of Chicago and miss A Sunday on La Grande Jatte by Seurat. True, I’m probably hitting some of the most famous paintings in the entire gallery, but there is good reason. What I loved most about this painting was how absolutely HUGE it was and that I could get so close and see the tiniest detail. One thing I noticed on close inspection was the “halo” effect around all the characters. This painting is often haralded as using a time-consuming “pointalism” process where tiny dots were used instead of sweeping painterly strokes. However, I noticed that the larger areas of the painting appears as though the larger “flat” areas of color were dobbed on without as much care as directly around each character. The dots are finer and closer together in contrast to the larger areas of color.
This painting was well before its time and still remains “current” in many graphical genres.
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