A day out with friends at the AIC!!

With mercury rising, a great place to beat the summer heat is the Art Institute of Chicago [AIC].. Here's a few photographs with my two friends Hilary and Rizza..
Date: May 25th, 2010..







From ancient to contemporary, from meeting with Goddess Tara, to empathizing with Edward Hopper's Nighthawks..







From admiring the elaborately stenciled [original] Stock Exchange Trading Room.. to .. snacking at the lovely McKinlock Court.. We enjoyed it all, with equal doses of seriousness and tomfoolery!



Image 1: Winged Horse [By John Bradley Storrs]..
Image 2 & 3: Goddess Tara with Hand in Gesture of Reassurance..
Image 4: Nighthawks [By Edward Hopper]..
Image 5, 6 & 7: Original Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room..
Image 8: McKinlock Court..

For more on .. [click on the links]..
# The Art Institute of Chicago..
This provides a perfect segway for linking some updates..
# McKinlock Court..
# [Original] Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room..

AIC: The Lost Pleiade [By Randolph Rogers]

The Lost Pleiade..
By Randolph Rogers [1825-1892]
1874-75 /Marble..
Location: Galleries of American Art - Lower Level
Sculpture Court [Gallery: 161]..

Note the details..
The marker reads..
In creating this sculpture, Randolph Rogers was inspired by the Roman author Ovid's poem "Fasti", which recounts the legend of the seven sisters who lived among the constellations. Merope, the youngest sister, married Sisyphus and hid herself in shame because he was mortal. The sculpture depicts the outcast Merope as she seeks her celestial family. With its unclothe torso, "The Lost Pleiade" is the closest Rogers came to creating a complete nude. Although a general audience would not have understood the reference to Fasti, the title nonetheless reassured Victorian viewers that this partially nude woman had literary antecedence and was thus not intended as an erotic image..















Just to emphasize the details,
I'm posting an enlarged image below..
Although clicking on any image will give an enlarged view..



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The Art Institute of Chicago...

AIC: The Hammerman [By Constantin Emile Meunier]

The Hammerman..
By Constantin Emile Meunier [Belgian 1831-1905]
1884 / Bronze..

I find this piece very impressive!
One of my favourites..
Although I'm not very happy with the images of this sculpture, and will try to take better images, but still find it interesting enough to post it..





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The Art Institute of Chicago...

AIC: Young Sophocles [By John Donoghue]

Young Sophocles Leading the Chorus of Victory after the Battle of Salamis..
BY: John Donoghue [American 1853-1903]
Bronze.. Modeled 1885, cast 1911
Foundry: Gorham Manufacturing Co. Providence, Rhode Island, founded 1818..

AIC: Miss Expanding Universe [By Isamu Noguchi]

Miss Expanding Universe..
Completed: 1932 / Aluminium..
BY Isamu Noguchi [1904-1988]..

The marker reads..
Born in the United States, Isamu Noguchi lived in Japan until he was 13 years old and was deeply affected by Japanese art and culture. In 1930 the artist returned to Japan to study its sculptural tradition and ceramics. Miss Expanding Universe was the first sculpture Noguchi made upon his return to the United States in 1932. In this work, he combined machine-age streamlining with characteristics of ancient Japanese funerary sculptures [haniwa]. Later the same year, Noguchi transformed this flowing form into a sack like costume for the pioneering dancer and choreographer Ruth page and her ballet "Expanding Universe"..

For more on.. [click on the link]..
The Art Institute of Chicago...

AIC: Untitled [Alliance] 2010.. By Roger Hiorns

Untitled [Alliance], 2010..
By Roger Hiorns
EC-135 c aircraft engines, Effexor, Citalopram and Mannitol..

The marker reads..
London based artist Roger Hiorns sculptural objects, installations and performances exploit specific materials to disquieting end, often addressing the symbolic power of culturally "dominant" objects including engines that he extracts from automobiles or airplanes..

For more on.. [click on the link]..
The Art Institute of Chicago...

Personal Comment..
A huge part of me, finds it very difficult to accept this as a piece of art.. At least when I visit an Art Institute, this is not what I have on my mind.. And if there is an art museum with lots of pieces like these, I might reconsider visiting that place for a second time.. Thank heavens, that AIC has a rich diversity, with many art-pieces that I generously admire and it gives me more than enough reasons for repeated visits..

Chicago West - Garfield Park / Lincoln, The Railsplitter (1911) - by Charles J. Mulligan

Lincoln, the Railsplitter

Lincoln, The Railsplitter - by Charles J. Mulligan

1911

Location: Garfield Park /

Northwest corner of Washington and Central Park Blvd.

The sculpture was commissioned by the West Park Commission, which was a precursor to the Chacago Park District. 

The sculpture "Lincoln, the Railsplitter" depicts a young Abraham Lincoln, who worked hard to rise from humble beginnings to become a great president.

The sculptor Charles Mulligan was an Irish immigrant who worked as a stone cutter before becoming an artist. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He also worked as an assistant in the Chicagho studio of Lorado Taft. Mulligan also created the William McKinley Monument. 

Chicago West - Garfield Park / Robert Burns Memorial - by William G. Stevenson

Robert Burns Memorial - by W. Grant Stevenson

Robert Burns - by W. Grant Stevenson

Dedicated: 1906 

The Memorial was dedicated by Governor Charles S. Deneen in 1906

Location: Garfield Park, 

Washington Blvd. between Cantral Park and Hamlin boulevards

The Robert Burns Memorial was commissioned by a Burns Memorial and Monument Association in 1906. The association was formed in 1880s. The association commissioned the statue from Edinburg sculptor William Grant Stevenson.  The sculpture was cast in bronze in Edinburgh, Scotland and is a gift of the Robert Burns Memorial Association. Robert Burns is Scotland's most revered poet.

Chicago West - Garfield Park Conservatory / Pastoral and Idyll - By Lorado Taft





Pastoral and Idyll - by Lorado Taft

1913 / Marble

Location: Garfield Park Conservatory

Lorado Taft originally crafted this pair of sculptures in plaster for the 1909 art exhibition in Garfield park Garden. in 1908 they were on temporary display in Humboldt Park Rose Garden.  The sculptural groups were so liked by the public that the West Park Board commissioned Lorado Taft to create a permanent marble version of them. 

Chicago West - Garfield Park Conservatory / Bulls with Maidens - by Daniel Chester French and Edward Potter

.

Bulls with Maidens

- by Daniel Chester French (Female figures) and Edward Potter (Bulls)

Also known as statues of Plenty

The Bulls with Maidens sculptures were commissioned for the 1893 World's Coluimbian Exposition.  The sculptures were originally made of plaster and stood in front of the Agriculture Building at the World's Fair. The public were so taken by the sculptures that the West Park Commissioners decided to cast them in bronze in 1912.

The female figure, represent Ceres, the Roman Goddess of grains. There is a companion sculpture of an Indian American maiden, holding stalks of corns.

The Garfield Park Conservatory website does not have any information on these sculptures. A great resource is the book, "A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculptures", by Ira J.Bach and Mary Lackritz Gray..

It informs that these bronze sculptures were cast from salvaged working models of sculptures designed for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893. These were placed in front of the Fair's Agriculture Building. Directly across was the Manufacturers Building, were companion groups of horses and male figures, a farmer and a teamster, representing labor, were installed. These were also by the same sculptures, French and Potter.

French and Potter collaborated on several works including the George Washington Monument in Chicago and the General Ulysses S. Grant Monument in Philadelphia.

Chicago West - Garfield Park Conservatory / Zellij Mosaic Fountain

 

Zellij Mosaic Fountain 

Installed: 2003

Gift to the Conservatory from Chicago's sister city - Casablanca, Morocco.

Location: Garfield Park Conservatory - Horticulture Hall

Chicago Loop / Chicago Totem - by Abbott Pattison

Chicago Totem (1964) - by Abbott Pattison

Bronze / 15-foot tall

Location: 400 E Randolph Street 

Commissioned by the Jupiter Corporation, 

developers of the Outer Drive East Apartments

In making his Chicago Totem, sculptor Abbott Pattison wanted to represent his native city with a totem that like Chicago is "soaring, living, writhing with animal force". His soaring 15-foor bronze was commissioned for its frequently wind-swept site by the Jupiter Corporation, developers of the Outer Drive East Apartments. 

Reference: A Guide to Chicago's Public Art By Ira J Bach and Mary Lackritz Gray

AIC: Contemporary Art: Alberto Giacometti

Walking Man-II [1960].. and Anthony Woods who was working at the Gallery. I requested him to pose for a photo. Thanks Anthony!



Alberto Giacometti [1901-1966]
was a key sculptor of the post-war years and was an inspiration throughout the West..
Most of his works are of thin figures, standing and full length. Women always hold their arms close to their bodies and stand still, while men are sometimes modelled in open stride. The main variation is of arrangement and size..
- Andrew Causey in his book "Sculptures Since 1945"..







Three Men Walking - II [1948-49].. Earlier in his career, Giacometti had composed sculptures of several parts on flat bases, like tableaux. Hans [Jean] Arp and Henry Moore had made move in similar direction..



Tall Figure, 1947.. and.. Walking Man-II in the backdrop..


This Gallery has works by Henry Moore, Alberto Giacometti, Constantin Brancusi and Jean Dubuffet.. [And all these artists are famous for distorted or stylized human figures]..

Marker reads [about Alberto Giacometti]..
After first producing work associated with Surrealism , Alberto Giacometti began making his distinctive elongated, skeletal bronze sculptures in Paris in late 1940's. His works struck a powerful chord with Existentialists writer Jean Paul Sartre, who saw the isolated figures as a visualization of his own ideas about the loneliness and ultimate absurdity of the human condition at the end of World War II..
For his part Giacometti insisted that he was simply attempting to convey his own experience of looking at people though his method of working was sympathetic to Sartre's response. The artist often reworked his sculptures over long periods of time, building up a clay model and then stripping it down, until he gradually eroded the figure's body, to essential fragile core..

For more on.. [click on the link]..
The Art Institute of Chicago...

AIC: The Old Guitarist [By Pablo Picasso]

I have written earlier, that Picasso is one of my favourite painters, and the "The Old Guitarist", is one of his most famous paintings, made during his Blue Period. However, I was not aware of, that this is an over-painting..

One day I was talking to good friend Gregory H. Jenkins.. about how I liked Picasso.. And he told me about this over painting.. and I could not believe, as I had seen this so many times and never noticed anything... But yesterday, I could see it so clearly!!! I was so happy, I called him [Yes, I can get easily amused by small little things!!]
But something very good was yet to happen..
I could meet him at AIC, something I had long wanted!
It was great meeting you Gregory!
Check out his must-see website.. click here ..





We see only what we know..
Once I knew, it was very easy to see the ghost-like appearance of a mysterious woman painted underneath. Her face is above the old man’s neck. It is likely that Picasso was strapped for cash to buy art materials, and reused materials.

Wonder why the marker makes no mention of the over-painting..
The marker reads..
Pablo Picasso made "The Old Guitarist" while working in Barcelona. In the painting of his Blue Period [1901-04] the artist restricted himself to cold, monochromatic blue palettes, flattened form and emotional, psychological themes of human misery and alienation related to the work of such artists as Edvard Munch and Paul Gauguin. The elongated angular figure of the blind musician also relates to Picasso's interest in Spanish art and, in particular, the great 16th century artist El Greco. More personally, the image reflects the struggling 22-year old artist's sympathy for the plight of the downtrodden - Picasso knew what it was like to be poor, having been nearly penniless during all of 1902..

For more on.. [click on the link]..
The Art Institute of Chicago...