Okay, in my last blog, I promised you a blog post on some of the paintings I saw at the Art Institute of Chicago. The thing is, wow was it ever tricky to choose the few to include here!

 

In a couple of cases, I felt some paintings deserved their very own post so good, I could put those aside. (This included a special exhibition that had some fabulous impressionist work but we weren’t allowed to take photographs so I ordered the catalogue from the library and when it comes….look out!)

 

I still had lots to choose from and had to make difficult choices.  I went to the Institute wishing to see some specific pieces and I’ll share some of those with you. But I also came across a few surprises by well-known artists and also discovered artists I hadn’t heard of before. So without further ado, let’s jump in! (A warning, some of the images may have a yellowish cast because I forgot to change my light setting. In these cases, when I could, I used photos from other sources for instance from the Art Institute of Chicago’s website.)

 

 

THE WANNA SEES!

 

First off, I wanted to see a real live Joan Mitchell. I knew the Art Institute of Chicago owned one and so that’s what I headed for almost immediately. It’s not my favourite (you know how I looooove colour and this one isn’t the most colourful) but it was fantastic to get close and personal and imagine her getting that paint on there. (Here’s the blog I wrote when I discovered her work.)

 

Although it looks like the paint has been thrown on and built up fast, apparently that wasn’t the case. From the painting’s label: Mitchell worked slowly and deliberately. “I paint a little,” she said. “Then I sit and look at the painting, sometimes for hours. Eventually, the painting tells me what to do.” That’s so great to read since I have days like that, of just looking and deciding, and I sometimes feel I should be taking more action. But if Joan can do it, so can I 🙂

 

Here’s a close up:

 

This detail shows the combination of thin and thick paint, drips and brushstrokes, bare canvas and heavily covered canvas. Luscious! Looking at the painting with the title in mind, it makes me think of looking down at a city from way up in the air when you see the cluster of buildings and activity surrounded by the more empty land. What’s your reading of the title?

 

Next I wanted to see one of the paintings by John Twachtman referred to in my blog:

 

My photo is rather dark but you can still see the red of the remaining leaves showing up against the white of the snow. Interestingly, the Institute has a different title and a different date from the book I referenced when writing my blog. I feel with the abstract quality of the piece that it could be later as suggested in the book, John Twachtman (please see my previous blog for more info.)

 

On the wall beside Icebound was another painting by Twachtman, one I hadn’t seen before:

 

 

And here’s a closeup:

Here you can see the delicate brushstrokes against sometimes raw canvas. Twachtman apparently did six versions of this bridge over six years. You can see two more in my previous blog.

 

I was hoping to see a Gerhard Richter (b.1932) painting. I had seen his work in books but couldn’t quite get why painting what looked like old black and white photos would make an impact. Well, now I know – it does! And yes, the photo does no justice to the real thing.

 

Here’s a closeup where you can see the brushstroke and the abstract quality of this figurative painting.

 

 

Other paintings I was hoping to see were some by Sargent (I did and they will appear in a later blog), a Peter Doig painting (no luck, it wasn’t on display), paintings by Rothko (saw two beauties), work by Cy Twombly (two seen), and a David Hockney (the 1968 painting, “American Collectors”).

 

 

SOME SURPRISED-TO-SEE PAINTINGS

 

Here are some of the paintings by artists whose work I know of but I was surprised to find them at the Institute. The first of these was Grant Wood’s iconic American Gothic which we discovered moments after entering the gallery. There it was just sitting on the wall. Amazing!!

 

I wanted to show you a close-up of the detail (which reminded me of the work of Northern Flemish artists like Jan Van Eyck) but the painting was behind glass and so what I got was mostly reflection. If you watch this video, you’ll see the work more closely as well as hear an interesting discussion about Wood, the painting and it’s place in American art history. The piece was first shown at the Institute (where he had studied) and Grant Wood (1891-1942) took home third prize and $300. He also garnered instant fame once the image hit the newspapers. You can read more on the Institute’s website. One of the most parodied paintings, you can have a chuckle while you look at a few versions of American Gothic in this blog.

 

Another delightful and unexpected treat to see was this well known painting by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926).

 

 

Having just had Cam’s step-daughter Franziska and her 27-month old son visit, and having spent time with Ben at his bathtime, I find this painting particularly joyous and intimate. The new unblemished skin of the child, their tender togetherness fully absorbed in the washing of feet, the beautifully painted clothing of striped material, the perspective of the faces seen from above, the positioning of the hands, the pattern in the flattened design (an influence of the Japanese prints so popular at the time), all these aspects make this painting a masterpiece.

 

An artist whose name I knew but really I wasn’t familiar with his work, is the painter William Glackens (1870-1938). Here’s a marvelous painting by him:

 

Take a look at some close-ups:

I think the hands (a part of the body I find quite a challenge to paint) are beautifully rendered.

And look at the fabric of her dress:

Those brushstrokes make it all seem so easy!

The painting is of Jeanne Mouquin, the proprietor’s wife, having a drink with James B. Moore, wealthy playboy and also a restauranteur. Mouquins was a popular meeting place where men and women met to have a drink but apparently, the representation of drinking was criticized for its perceived impropriety.

Where are the two figures looking? He seems to be enjoying something to his right whereas she seems to be in her own thoughts. What’s your reading about what’s going on?

 

A third painting that totally took us off guard was this one by Andy Warhol (1928-1987). We came around the corner and there was this HUGE painting of Mao on the wall!!

 

Cam’s in there to give you a sense of the size of the painting. It was mesmerizing. Unfortunately the photo just doesn’t reveal the impact of the painting which is almost 15 feet tall! I like what the label had to say: “..the towering work mimics the representations of the political figure that were ubiquitous throughout China. In contrast to the photographic nature of the image, garish colours were applied like makeup to Mao’s face. Ultimately, the portrait shows Warhol at his most painterly, rendering Mao, an enemy of individualism, in a brazenly personal style.”

 

 

THE DISCOVERIES!

 

There were a number of paintings by artists I had not heard of before. I’d love to know your thoughts on these paintings. Were you familiar with the work of these artists?

 

The first of these discoveries was Gifford Beal (1879-1956):

 

I loved the seemingly simple design – dark foreground moving into lighter middle ground and background – and the fact that he placed the column of back-lit smoke bang in the centre! The smoke is coming from below the stairs and no one seems particularly worried about it. What’s it from? A train?

 

Here’s a close-up:

 

You can really see the way he painted around the houses with thicker paint – painting the negative space.

 

Check out this painting by Ivan Albright (1897-1983):

 

It’s a rather gruesome painting, but like a car accident, against one’s will, you find yourself looking….and looking. It certainly is a modern interpretation of the vanitas theme so popular in the Netherlands in 16th and 17th centuries. Here is a woman, undoubtedly pretty in her youth, taking in the ravages of time as she looks at her aging self in the mirror.

 

And probably my favourite discovery is this lovely painting by Elizabeth Sparhawk-Jones (1885-1968):

 

 

I love the chaos and excitement seen in the painting – the hunt for just that right shoe! Apparently Sparhawk-Jones’s early work centered on representations of women in the modern world – shoppers and clerks, women in the park, nursemaids at home. Had you heard of her before?

 

Here’s a detail of Shoe Shop revealing the colour and brushstroke:

 

 

(By the way, there appears to be no entry for Sparhawk-Jones in Wikipedia. You can read about of her interesting life here. You can also read a fascinating transcript of a 1964 interview with her.  There has been a book written about her – see the Amazon link at the bottom of this post. I really am curious about this unknown-to-me artist and needless to say, I’ll be doing more research!)

 

There were so many wonderful paintings and I want to show them all to you but choices had to be made. The Art Institute is a place worth visiting if you are ever in Chicago.

 

Outside the Institute lies the superb Millenium Park which holds such treasures as Anish Kapoor‘s amazing Cloud Gate:

 

 

Okay, that’s all she wrote. All I can say is, if you haven’t been to Chicago and you have a chance to visit the city, do it!!

If you have been to Chicago, what was your favourite thing about the city?

 

Your time is precious and I sure appreciate you spending some of it with me. Thanks so much for reading.

 

Until next time,

 

~ Gail