Date: Fri 19-Feb-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: DONNAG

Quick Words:

Lead19

Full Text:

American Arts At The Art Institute Of Chicago

(with cut)

CHICAGO, ILL. -- For the first time in its long history, the Art Institute of

Chicago has published a volume devoted to its extensive collection of American

art. The landmark publication features 200 of the museum's finest. Out of a

total of nearly 3,000 objects, it brings together paintings, sculpture and the

decorative arts to show the range of American cultural and aesthetic

production.

Most striking, perhaps, is the Art Institute's aggressive position in the

market. Though they are not the only highlights in a collection studded with

masterworks, all of paintings and objects illustrated on these pages were

acquired, either by gift of purchase, over the past decade. Some readers will

even recall a few of these pieces from auction.

Like Chicago itself, the Art Institute's collection of American art is heavily

weighted toward the second half of the Nineteenth Century and reflects the

diverse artistic experiences of that period. As author Judith A. Barter, the

Field-McCormick Curator of American Arts at the Art Institute, writes, the

collection "is inextricably tied to the rise of Chicago after the Great Fire

of 1871, to the insecurities of the Midwestern city without the grand

tradition of New York or Boston, and to the program of education devised by

wealthy Chicagoans for the city's working class."

Barter continues, "The growth of this collection was often marked by the

conservatism of the museum's trustees and donors, although ... there were

daring acquisitions and controversial exhibition throughout the century."

The book begins with a lively introduction by Barter on the evolution of the

museum's collection and the social context in which it developed. It describes

the formation of the American collection, traces its growth, and discusses

some of the important patrons and support groups who have made possible the

acquisition of works in this area.

The Department of American Arts dates only to 1975, when the museum's

departments were reorganized. It combines painting and sculpture through 1900

with decorative arts to the present day. Since 1988, with the completion of

the Rice Building, a 30,000-square-foot area has been dedicated to the

department.

American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago ranges from roughly 1650 -- the

era of early Puritan settlements in New England -- to World War I and the

onset of the modern era. Because of their importance, a number of the included

paintings were drawn from the Art Institute's Twentieth Century department.

The breadth of the museum's collection is apparent in its fine arts. Featured

are paintings by George Bellows, Mary Cassatt, John Singleton Copley, Thomas

Eakins, Ralph Earl, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Ammi Phillips,

John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, to name but a few. Daniel

Chester French, Horatio Greenough, Frederick MacMonnies, Paul Manship, Hiram

Powers, Randolph Rogers, Frederic Remington and Augustus Saint-Gaudens are

just a few of the sculptors who are included.

The extensive selection of decorative arts ranges from Seventeenth Century New

York silver and Eighteenth Century Newport furniture to Gilded Age commissions

by Tiffany and Herter Brothers. Standouts include a Newport shell-carved

kneehole desk attributed to John Townsend, a Boston bombe chest attributed to

John Cogswell and a New York serpentine-front five-legged card table. A

labeled Lannuier card table, the promised gift of Jamee and Marshall Field, is

surely one of the Institute's Nineteenth Century holdings.

In addition to Barter's essay on the history the museum's collection, American

Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago features 150 detailed catalogue entries

by Barter, Kimberly Rhodes and Seth A. Thayer, with contributions by Andrew

Walker. The collection itself is divided into four chapters: "From Colony to

Nation," "The Young Republic," "The Civil War Era and The Gilded Age" and "The

Modern Era." The entries describe the aesthetic importance of the objects

while placing them within a cultural and historical context.

The book concludes with a glossary of decorative arts terms (helpfully

presented in pictorial format) and an index.

Judith A. Barter has been the Field-McCormick Curator of American Arts at The

Art Institute of Chicago since 1992. She was previously associate director of

the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Mass., and assistant curator at the

Saint Louis Art Museum. She is author of Mary Cassatt: Modern Woman, recently

published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same title, as well as

American Drawings and Watercolors at the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hudson Hills

Press, 1988).

Kimberly Rhodes, a former member of the department of American arts at the Art

Institute, is the assistant professor of art at Hollins University in Roanoke,

Va. She worked previously at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Olana State

Historic Site, and the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y.

Seth A. Thayer, also a former member of the department, is an independent

consultant.

Andrew Walker is the assistant curator of American painting and sculpture at

the Art Institute.

Published by the museum, American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago is

distributed by Hudson Hills Press, 122 East 25th Street, New York, NY 10010;

telephone 212/674-6005. The 360-page volume sells for $75 hardcover.