Chicago Art Institute Research Articles

Preserving process: conservation of a Helen Frankenthaler maquette for Card

ABSTRACTContemporary American print publishers, such as Universal Limited Art Editions (ULAE), collaborate with artists to produce prints using high quality materials for their editions. However, for developing their imagery, artists often use more affordable materials that may be prone to degradation, discoloration, and structural instability. This article discusses the treatment of a maquette by Helen Frankenthaler, a multi-layered assemblage of paper and transparent film joined together with pressure-sensitive tape that is one of the several preliminary works for her 1971 lithograph Card, now in the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago. Treatment of the maquette was undertaken to reduce degraded tape adhesive and replace it with a stable pressure-sensitive alternative while preserving the integrity of the work and its original materials. FTIR analysis in reflectance and transmittance modes identified the transparent films as cellulose acetate and the tape carriers as both cellulose acetate and regenerated cellulose (cellophane); these findings informed treatment and storage decisions. An analytical survey of several works in the ULAE collection also confirmed the use of cellulose acetate in works by other artists from the 1960s and 1970s. Therefore, concerns for the stability of this material would ultimately factor into the broader preservation plan for the archive.

Curating Context: The Art Institute of Chicago’s 1945 Leopoldo Méndez Exhibition

Abstract This article considers the exhibition of the work of leftist Mexican printmaker Leopoldo Méndez at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1945. Showing Méndez’s work in a manner that illuminated the artist’s communist loyalties could have been controversial in the postwar milieu, but the exhibition did not generate negative publicity. The professionals of the Art Institute, most notably Katherine Kuh and Carl Schniewind, perpetuated the invented populist legacy of printmaker José Guadalupe Posada to provide a folkloric and regional context for the work of Méndez. They thereby provided a reading that encouraged audiences to overlook the contemporary leftist political importance of Méndez’s work, and made the prints palatable to an audience that might otherwise have reacted strongly to the work of a communist Mexican artist at a time when the Good Neighbor Policy had come to an end and the Cold War had begun. This case study, the dynamics of which were repeated at parallel exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, exemplifies the crucial challenge of the curatorial representations that have not problematized the context of the artistic narratives that they present.

Beauty and the (Huge) Beast Await You at N.Y. Museums

Beauty and the (Huge) Beast Await You at N.Y. Museums

NEW EXHIBITION EXAMINES THE SOCIAL LIFE OF BRONZES THROUGH THE CENTURIES

AbstractThis is a short review of the “Mirroring China's Past” exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago (February 25th–May 13th, 2018). For reference, the exhibition catalog is: Tao Wang 汪涛 et al. Mirroring China's Past: Emperors, Scholars, and Their Bronzes [吉金鑒古]. The Art Institute of Chicago, 2018. Distributed by Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

Horrific Heroine

Horrific Heroine Danielle A. Orozco (bio) My Favorite Things is Monsters, Book One Emil Ferris Fantagraphics www.fantagraphics.com 386 Pages; Print, $39.99 In a wondrous, cascade of black-and-white cross hatching and colored pencil art, monsters who are real and imagined come to life in Emil Ferris's graphic novel My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Book One. With an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and as a Toby Devan Lew Fellow in the visual arts, Ferris has been the recipient of critical acclaim for her illuminating work. Her graphic novel is a coming-of-age story that centers around the fictitious experiences of ten-year-old Karen Reyes—the novel's primary narrator—and her family in Chicago during the late 1960s. Fashioned as a diary against lined paper, the graphic novel explores family tensions, sexual awakenings, unlikely friendships, and horrific histories. Ferris' work also reflects the tumult and hysteria of the mid-twentieth century while appealing to those readers who are seeking something peculiar, adventurous, and frightening—yet moving—in its narrative. Obsessed with B-horror comics and late-night creep-shows on television, Karen imagines her transformation from an ordinary girl into a powerful were-creature and slinks around the streets of her neighborhood. She idolizes her older brother, Deeze (short for Diego Zapata Reyes) and [End Page 9] is befuddled by the superstitions of her fastidious mother, Marvela "Mama" Reyes. In a family where she is half-Mexican and her mother has indigenous ancestral roots, Karen explores not only her racial identity but her gender and sexual expression. Struggling to connect with her classmates, she decides to investigate the murder of her beautiful yet elusive neighbor Anka Silverberg, a survivor of the Holocaust. In her pursuit of answers, she dons her older brother's trench coat and a dapper hat to get to the bottom of the murder mystery. What she finds along the way is truth stranger than fiction. My Favorite Thing is Monsters begins with Karen's metamorphosis as she dreams the people of her town have taken up arms against her in a mob (otherwise known as Mean, Ordinary, and Boring people). She awakens and considers that even if these ordinary townsfolk insist monsters aren't real, monsters can still exist in everyday circumstances. Unfortunately, Karen knows these monsters all too well as she faces repulsion from her classmates, who alienate and other her through their insidious remarks and taunts. She also pines for the validation and love of her best friend, Missy, who has chosen to hang out with the more popular girls of their school. In the meantime, she befriends a hungry girl called Sandy—a ghostly figure who resembles skin and bones—and a queer young man named Franklin who looks like Frankstein's monster because of his facial scars. Yet, Karen finds the most solace in her brother Deeze, as he whisks her away to art museums and buys her the newest horror comics. She also learns about sex and relationships through his dalliances with women around the neighborhood. Yet, Deeze spends the majority of the novel grieving over his illicit love affair to the dearly departed Anka. Turning away from the horrific vitriol of her classmates, Karen plunges into the opaque and mysterious circumstances surrounding Anka's death. Acquiring a series of personal tape recordings by Anka's late husband, she hears the story of Anka's life and discovers that she was raised in a brothel and sold into sex slavery. As a young Jewish girl in Berlin from the early 1920s to the late 1930s, she experienced sexual assault, rape, and the deaths of those about whom she cared deeply. Although she was almost sacrificed in a secret ritual by a dangerous cult, she escaped and found refuge with a previous client, Herr Schutz. After a torrid relationship with him, she was cast out from his estate and hurled into a world filled with chaos. Remembering the horrors of the holocaust, Anka describes her grueling trip to the concentration camps. Her story is one of violence and tragedy—a narrative that reveals the marginalization of women...

Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium by John Corbett

Reviewed by: Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium by John Corbett Darren Ingram Vinyl Freak: Love Letters to a Dying Medium. By John Corbett. Durham: Duke University Press, 2017. [x, 250 p. ISBN 9780822363507 (cloth), $104.95; ISBN 9780822363668 (paperback), $24.95; ISBN 9780822373155 (e-book), varies.] Illustrations; paperback includes supplemental flexi-disc. Vinyl records as carriers of recorded sound have been described as a dying format for several decades. While their mainstream popularity may have waned, they are far from extinct in some quarters. Vinyl Freak, a relatively compact and intriguing book, is billed as "love letters to a dying medium." A mixture of a loving commiseration for a declining format and a discovery tool for uber-enthusiasts and curious listeners, the book stands out for its individuality, quirkiness, and authority. Duke University Press published several of Corbett's other writings about sound recording (Extended Play: Sounding Off from John Cage to Dr. Funkenstein [1994]; Microgroove: Forays into Other Music [2015], and "Ephemera Underscored: Writing around Free Improvisation" [in Jazz among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard (1995), pp. 217–42]). The author is also a musician, record producer and reissuer, adjunct associate professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and former columnist and now staff writer for Down Beat magazine. He draws on many of his Down Beat columns from 2000 to 2012 for this book. Initially, I struggled to connect with Vinyl Freak. As I flipped through the paperback version, it yielded what [End Page 280] appeared to be a formulaic design with an abundance of LP covers. At the end, however, there was a surprise (I overlooked the announcement on the front cover): a limited collector's edition, bright orange flexi-disc affixed to the back cover containing an unreleased recording of It's a Good Day by Dave Barbour and Peggy Lee, in a piano-vocal performance by Sun Ra (American jazz composer and experimental music guru). Even before getting into the stride of "track" one (chapters are called "tracks"), I was hooked, and the book became a literary version of an audio earworm—and a worthy read. Though many of the artists and their rare, out-of-print LPs will be unfamiliar, most readers will enjoy the journey, learning something about Corbett, his interests and musical exploration, and bits about various artists and their musical output. It was all from a distant time, when life was a lot slower and collecting could be more arduous, often requiring patience and a lot of detective work. (I understand the collector's bug and desire, even though I may seek to deny it to my wife, who wonders what I will do with the piles of phonograph cylinders, transcription records, and other desirable collections that fight for space, cataloging efforts, and auditory attention.) Attempts to reproduce previously published magazine columns, even with slight updates or postscripts, rarely works well, but on this occasion (though without comparing the book to the magazine directly), it seems to be wholly appropriate and relevant. As well as giving readers the potential to discover unknown or forgotten music, the book also underlines the problems of recorded sound going out of print and thus made inaccessible. This is a particularly serious issue for the older (analog), less-popular, or nonmainstream music. Sometimes a particular version or release was well received, but because it was poorly distributed, it is found now only in disparate archives and private collections, if even that. What are the options if you want to do the right thing, but matters such as copyright laws and myriad of regulations stand in the legal way of rerelease? Hoping to discover a poor-quality dub, transiently uploaded to a video or music-sharing site without permission, may be an option—possibly the last option of choice—but it is hardly a responsible and enduring way of seeing that the music lives on for future generations to discover, access, and enjoy. For the recordings highlighted by Corbett, the reader is informed about its wider availability (or unavailability). In extremis, vinyl audiophiles resort to crate digging, auction or sale-site searching, and the broader collector's networks buoyed on by...

We Write with Scissors

On our frigid first day of class, one week after donald trump's inauguration, my coteacher, christa donner, and I began our course Community Zine Projects at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with the question, Why zines now? In this era of blogs and Twitter, these tiny-edition handmade paper publications might seem irrelevant. So why take this class? The answers offered by this group of undergraduate and graduate student artists, writers, scholars, and educators were inspiring.

Christopher de Hamel, The Medieval World at Our Fingertips: Manuscript Illuminations from the Collection of Sandra Hindman. London: Harvey Miller Publishers, 2018, 264 pp., 270 color illus.

Sandra Hindman has enjoyed a distinguished career as an art historian: She taught at Northwestern University (1984–2002), published numerous books and articles, served on the Board of Trustees of the Newberry Library (2003–14), and founded the gallery Les Enluminures, which purchases medieval manuscripts and miniatures. To honor her scholarship, from January 27 to May 28, 2018, the Art Institute of Chicago mounted an exhibition of thirty manuscript miniatures from Hindman’s personal collection, seven of which she had donated to the Art Institute. The Medieval World at Our Fingertips is the catalogue accompanying this exhibition, and it is a delightful tribute to Hindman’s career.

Five and a Possible

Five and a Possible Alison C. Rollins (bio) Spades is a way of life for black folks.My mother went into laborIn the middle of a game.I was born as Five and a possible. She saidShe’d felt no greater pain than that loss,Than when she turned away, shamefacedIn the midst of kin, When certain bragging rights began to crown.They pulled my body from her diamond,Held me up to meet her gaze, to studyThe odds of what a luckless god had Given. An overbid could get you shotAt Grandma’s house, could have youQuestion the number of heartsYou had in your hand. Everyone knew that my mother was the score-Keeper. She counted the books twice everyRound. There had been three before me.Babies my mother got but did not get. My mother taught me to watch a man’s eyesWhen he deals, to cut the deckLike his cord of wishfulThinking. She’d warn in silence, don’t talk across the table!Then demonstrate over dinner with my father,As the air held the weight ofThings unsaid. After the divorce and Grandma’s funeral,All the words in my mother for tiredWere tired, her hands folded in scornLike cards. [End Page 140] Alison C. Rollins Alison C. Rollins, born and raised in St. Louis city, currently works as a librarian for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, Poetry, TriQuarterly, Tupelo Quarterly, and elsewhere. A Cave Canem and Callaloo Fellow, she is also a 2016 recipient of the Poetry Foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship. Her debut poetry collection, Library of Small Catastrophes, is forthcoming (Copper Canyon Press, 2019). Copyright © 2018 Middlebury College Publications

Jackson Pollock, Untitled (c.1938-1941) - The Shape of Things to Come

Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) © ARS, NY. Untitled, c.1938/41 Oil on linen. 56,5 x 127,6 cm (22 1/4 x 50 1/4 in.), unframed. Major Acquisitions Centennial Fund; estate of Florene May Schoenborn; through prior acquisitions of Mr. and Mrs. Carter H. Harrison, Marguerita S. Ritman, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Borland, and Mary L. and Leigh B. Block, 1998.522. Photo Credit: The Art Institute of Chicago / Art Resource, NY * L’exposition The Age of Anxiety, presentee au Musee de l’Orangerie fin 2016, couvrait...

Paul Gauguin's Noa Noa prints: Multi-analytical characterization of the printmaking techniques and materials

The Art Institute of Chicago holds an extensive collection of works on paper by Paul Gauguin, including 39 unique woodblock prints from the artist's famed Noa Noa Suite that he produced following his first visit to Tahiti. Although Gauguin's graphic works are among his most innovative and experimental, they have been less studied from a technical perspective than his works in other media. This paper presents results from an in-depth, multi-analytical investigation of the Noa Noa prints that employed non-invasive techniques hand-in-hand with selective analysis of microsamples of the printing inks and pigments to provide a detailed characterization of Gauguin's materials and insights into his working methods. The study reveals Gauguin's creativity in the manipulation of his materials to produce distinctive visual effects in his woodblock prints: this included the formulation of oleoresinous media to produce textural effects, and the selective use of hand- and stencil-applied colors for various impressions. The analytical findings also confirm visual evidence of fading and other alterations in pigments that help to inform our interpretation of the imagery. Overall, this research has aided understanding of Gauguin's pictorial narratives and enhanced our appreciation of the artistic significance and technical ingenuity involved in the production of this understudied part of his oeuvre.

Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor. Visual art exhibition. Chicago, IL: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2017.

Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor. Visual art exhibition. Chicago, IL: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2017.

Zhang Peili: Record. Repeat.

Review ofExhibition catalog: Orianna Cacchione, Zhang Peili: Record. Repeat. Exh. Cat. Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2017. 96 pp.; 50 color ills. Hardback $25.00 (9780300226225) Exhibition schedule: Art Institute of Chicago, March 31–July 9, 2017

Death, Bereavement, and Creativity

Does creativity, on average, increase or decrease during bereavement? Dates of death of relatives and close friends of 33 French artists and 15 American artists were gathered from electronic sources and biographies, and information on over 15,000 paintings was collected from the Blouin Art Sales Index and the online collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Musée d’Orsay, including more than 12,000 observations on price. An event study indicates that there is no evidence that the death of a friend or relative makes an artist more creative, and there is some evidence that prices of paintings are significantly lower during the first year following the year of death of a friend or relative. Furthermore, paintings that were created during this bereavement period are less likely to be included in a major museum’s collection. The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2850 . This paper was accepted by John List, behavioral economics.

Moholy-Nagy: Future Present

October 01 2017 Moholy-Nagy: Future Present Moholy-Nagy: Future Present. Art Institute of Chicago(October 2, 2016–January 3, 2017) (Exhibition Review) Co-organized byCarol S.Eliel, Curator of Modern Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Karole P. B. Vail, Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Matthew S. Witkovsky, Richard and Ellen Sandor Chair and Curator, Department of Photography, Art Institute of Chicago.Moholy-Nagy: Future Present. by MatthewWitkovsky and CarolEliel ( The Art Institute of Chicago, 2016) (Book Review) Barbara Jaffee Barbara Jaffee Barbara Jaffee is associate professor of Art History in the School of Art and Design at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. Her work on American modernism and design has appeared in a number of journals, anthologies, and exhibition catalogues. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Barbara Jaffee Barbara Jaffee is associate professor of Art History in the School of Art and Design at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. Her work on American modernism and design has appeared in a number of journals, anthologies, and exhibition catalogues. Online Issn: 1531-4790 Print Issn: 0747-9360 © 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2017Massachusetts Institute of Technology Design Issues (2017) 33 (4): 92–95. https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_r_00464 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Barbara Jaffee; Moholy-Nagy: Future Present. Design Issues 2017; 33 (4): 92–95. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/DESI_r_00464 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsDesign Issues Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2017 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2017Massachusetts Institute of Technology Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Design Learning for Tomorrow

This special issue of Form Akademisk consist of four selected peer reviewed articles developed from papers held at The 3rd International Conference for Design Education Researchers - DRS/CUMULUS learnxdesign conference held in Chicago from the 28th of June – 30th of June 2015. The conference was implemented through close cooperation between the Design Research Society (DRS) and the International Association of Universities and Schools of Design, Art and Media (CUMULUS). It was hosted by School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds by Leo Braudy

Book Review| September 01 2017 Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds by Leo Braudy BOOK DATA Leo Braudy, Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds. New Haven, CT and London: Yale University Press, 2016. $30.00 (hardcover). 336 pages. Carrie Rickey Carrie Rickey CARRIE RICKEY is a longtime movie critic at The Philadelphia Inquirer. She writes on films for Yahoo! Movies and Truthdig.com. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Film Quarterly (2017) 71 (1): 111–113. https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2017.71.1.111 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Carrie Rickey; Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds by Leo Braudy. Film Quarterly 1 September 2017; 71 (1): 111–113. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2017.71.1.111 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFilm Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, http://www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints.2017 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition by Therese Grisham and Julie Grossman

Book Review| June 01 2017 Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition by Therese Grisham and Julie Grossman BOOK DATA Therese Grisham and Julie Grossman, Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017. $27.95 paper. 264 pages. Carrie Rickey Carrie Rickey CARRIE RICKEY is a longtime movie critic at The Philadelphia Inquirer. She writes on films for Yahoo! Movies and Truthdig.com. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Film Quarterly (2017) 70 (4): 124–127. https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2017.70.4.124 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Carrie Rickey; Ida Lupino, Director: Her Art and Resilience in Times of Transition by Therese Grisham and Julie Grossman. Film Quarterly 1 June 2017; 70 (4): 124–127. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2017.70.4.124 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFilm Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, http://www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints.2017 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Drifting through Research: How the Bibliodérive Inspired New Approaches to Information Literacy at Flaxman Library

AbstractA biblioderive is the application of the Situationist International practice of the derive or “drift” to the realm of research, libraries, and archives. The Flaxman Library (School of the Art Institute of Chicago) biblioderive event in February 2015 was a collection of open-ended actions, or situations, designed to challenge students to think non-linearly about research. Using approaches similar to the biblioderive event, Flaxman librarians have experimented with new methods of library instruction that advance these generative and serendipitous modes of research. This article describes how librarians incorporated these practices along with the ACRL Framework into instruction.

Review: Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films by Molly Haskell

Book Review| March 01 2017 Review: Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films by Molly Haskell BOOK DATA Molly Haskell, Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2016. $25.00 cloth. 215 pages. Carrie Rickey Carrie Rickey CARRIE RICKEY is a longtime movie critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She writes on films for Yahoo! Movies and Truthdig.com. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania. Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Film Quarterly (2017) 70 (3): 92–95. https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2017.70.3.92 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Carrie Rickey; Review: Steven Spielberg: A Life in Films by Molly Haskell. Film Quarterly 1 March 2017; 70 (3): 92–95. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2017.70.3.92 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentFilm Quarterly Search This content is only available via PDF. © 2017 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Press's Reprints and Permissions web page, http://www.ucpress.edu/journals.php?p=reprints.2017 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.