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Art in Chicago since 1945
 I moved to Chicago in 1975 to be closer to the city's aging public sculptor, Milton Horn , an artist much closer to the 17th Century than to the late 20th. So I've never had much interest in Chicago's...
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Qing Dynasty Jade Brushpot
This Qing Dynasty six-inch jade brushpot just sold for $2,060,000 at Sotheby's. It depicts an imperial procession.For the previous 118 years it was in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago -...
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Ten Painters of Chicago Cityscapes
Andy Paczos Brian WellsDavid Brettker Dmitry Samarov Emily Rapport Emmett Kerrigan Enrique Santana Kevin Swallow Marion KryczkaSandra Holubow
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Arnheim on Cezanne
Madame Cezanne in a Yellow Chair, 1888-1890Art Institute of Chicagoexcerpted from "Art and Visual Perception - A Psychology of the Creative Eye"by Rudolf Arnheim Chapter 1 : "Balance"It follows from...
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In Praise of David Finn
Indonesia, 700 - 900 A.D.While poking through a stack of old art magazines, the above suddenly caught my attention.The photograph is obviously by David Finn, the long-time photographer for Sculpture...
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Ludka Derke 1949-2019
What a sad day!Just last week she was mountain biking in Peru.Today, she's only a memory.What a beautiful and extraordinary life.I've only recorded a small part of it : Cambodiajewelry Nepal...
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Art Expo Chicago 2019
Amoako Boafo(MARIANE IBRAHIM Gallery ,  437 N. Paulina St)The 2019 edition of Expo Chicago is different -- and better ! -- than the previous seven editions of Tony Karman's international art...
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Bengt Lindstrom
Biegga Galles, God of the Storm WindAs it turns out -- I'm a big fan of the Swedish painter, Bengt Lindstrom (1925-2008)His stuff drives me crazy.I wrote about his show here .Below are some more...
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A Eulogy for Shane Campbell Gallery
  Chicago and VicinityI'm embarrassed to say that I only discovered Shane Campbell's gallery in 2015 --- fourteen years after he opened it in Oak Park. (which is where I live)Ouch.How could I have...
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A Eulogy for Linda Warren Gallery
My recent eulogy for Shane Campbell's gallery got me thinking about another exhibition spacethat recently closed.Like Campbell,Warren is still in business,it's just that she does not mount exhibitions...
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Arts Club of Chicago - Members Exhibit
Dorian Allworthy, "When I Have Fears"The Arts Club of Chicagois a short walk from my art club,the Palette and Chisel,so why is this the first timeI've ever visited their members' biennial...
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El Greco - Ambition and Defiance
El Greco, "Assumption of the Virgin", Art Institute of ChicagoIf Modern Art is a religion, the Art Institute of Chicago is one of its cathedrals and El Greco is its earliest prophet. Not that he or...
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Bruce Thorn: The Red Guitar
I first got to know Bruce Thorn after I reviewed his show at the Koehnline Museum in 2015  Bruce Thorn, Nightsong (detail)Above is a detail from the painting that blew me away.God knows how he gets...
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The Ed Johnson Memorial in Chattanooga Tennessee
    Jerome Meadows : The Ed Johnson Memorial (detail) 114 years before George Floyd was choked by a policeman in Minneapolis, Ed Johnson was lynched by a mob in Chattanooga. If there's been any...
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Le Marron Inconnu
   Albert Mangones, Le Marron Inconnu, 1967  This appears to be one of the great public statues of the 20th Century.So full of power, drama, tension ... and foreboding. (the figure displays...
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Abbott Pattison - sculptor
 Abbott Pattison, Winged FigureThis small bronze just caught my eye in the catalog of an upcoming  auction.  It has that same cheerful uplift that’s often seen in my father’s work.  Midwestern men of...
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Expo Chicago 2022
 Poojah Pittie, Still Stranger, 2022Yes, I'm a Poojah Pittie person . I would have bought this if I hadn't bought her showpiece from last year's virtual Expo. All that watery passion - it drives me...
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Exhibition: The Language of Beauty in African Art - Art Institute of Chicago
 This is the richest collection of African sculpture I have ever seen - even though it contains not a single royal bronze from Benin despite it’s focus on West Africa.  It is also expertly lit and...
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Biking to galleries : 7-15-2023
 Susan Alforque Silvano, Intimazzy -  Swiss Train Ride, 12 x 15This trip began at a new venue, Epiphany Center for the Arts, a re-purposed Anglican Church on Ashland near Adams - now a venue for...
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My Collection
This post is ongoing.  New acquisitions will be added to the top.Eventually commentary will accompany each piece. ****************************************************************Dimitry Pavlovsky,...
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Instagram Figure Sculpture
 When figure sculpture was knocked if it’s pedestal in the middle of the 20th  Century,  it’s formal, spatial qualities were mostly abandoned.This ongoing post will attempt to document exceptions to...
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Visiting the Art Institute of Chicago : October 2024
 IEl Anatsui, Ghana b. 1944, The Deluge, 2021The subject here is nature,And I can’t recall a tapestry more powerful than this.Though, we might note, that unlike  Medieval examples,there are no human...
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Chicago Abstract Painters - Part II
 I asked Scott Wolniak for a list of local non-figurative  painters when I met him gallery sitting his show at Dominican University        I didn’t care for all of them - but here are the ones...
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The Instagram Museum of contemporary painting
 An ongoing collection of images found on the internet - often on InstagramThe most recent are at the end.************************Cyndi LewisNina Rizzo’s,  Annie O, 2021Sarah Boyts Yoder, Squid Pink,...
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American Modernists at the Art Institute of Chicago
 There is a floor of 20th Century art in the American Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago -  and gallery signage indicates that several kinds of Modernism are on display.They’re not saying that every...
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