Arts Club of Chicago
community area | |
Established | 1916 (current location since April 4, 1997) |
---|---|
Location | 201 E. Ontario Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611 United States |
Coordinates | 41°53′35″N 87°37′21″W / 41.8931°N 87.6224°W |
Director | Janine Mileaf |
Website | www |
Arts Club of Chicago is a private club and public exhibition space located in the
The club presented
The club's move in 1997 to its current location at 201 E. Ontario Street was not without controversy because the club demolished its former interior space designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and moved only the central staircase to the new gallery space.[5] However, the new space is 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2), which is 7,000 square feet (650 m2) larger than the old space.[6]
Mission and purpose
The inaugural mission of the club was "to encourage higher standards of art, maintain galleries for that purpose, and to promote the mutual acquaintance of art lovers and art workers."[7] The Arts Club of Chicago was founded by artists and patrons in the wake of The Armory Show, which was on view at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1913. The club's founders—made aware of the exhibition's negative reception by the many Chicagoans who did not understand or accept what they saw—aimed to expose the city to new images, sounds and ideas.
Conceived as an exhibition and social space that would cultivate sophisticated conversations around a range of media, The Arts Club has maintained its core interest in presenting culture "in the making," serving as a key venue in Chicago for the presentation of work by the national and international avant-garde.
The club does not generally show traveling exhibitions curated by others. Instead, it curates its own exhibits, often with very original works. This places emphasis on cutting edge and avant-garde art.
History
The club was founded in 1916 and experienced its first coverage in the
1990s: new building
In the 1990s, the club was located west of Michigan Avenue and behind the 620 building which was home to many of Chicago's finest art dealers including Richard Gray and Richard L. Feigen & Co. The Arts club did not own the land upon which their famous Mies clubhouse was built; instead, the club held the land in a longterm leasehold. In 1990, the owner of 620 N. Michigan and the Arts Club land decided to sell. At first the Arts Club hoped to raise the money to purchase its land along with the 620 N. Michigan Avenue property in an effort spearheaded by Richard Gray, but it quickly became apparent that the club would lose a bidding war over this valuable land. A developer bought the property and demolished the entire block to make way for a movie complex and shopping center.
With the prospect of losing its home, the Arts Club opted to sell one of the most valuable items in its collection to finance the purchase of new land. The club decided to sell Brâncuși's Bird to the Art Institute of Chicago.
The 19,000 square feet (1,800 m2) John Vinci designed building is a two-story structure that cost
Collection
The Arts Club's collection is a combination of acquisitions from its exhibitions and donations from both members and artists. It includes works by Georges Braque, Alexander Calder, Natalia Goncharova, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Henry Moore, Isamu Noguchi, Francis Picabia, and Pablo Picasso. The club has made recent acquisitions of contemporary works by Malcolm Morley, Alex Katz, and Peter Doig.[7] The club maintains a document collection, mostly of correspondence with its artists, at the Newberry Library.[5] Further information on the club collection can be found in The Arts Club of Chicago: The Collection 1916–1996 by Sophia Shaw, granddaughter of the club's dynamic past president Rue Winterbotham Shaw.[19]
Highlights
Notable works in the club's private collection include:
- Red Petals, plate steel, steel wire, sheet aluminum, soft-iron bolts, and aluminum paint, 1942,[20] by Alexander Calder
- Main Staircase for The Arts Club of Chicago, steel, travertine marble, 1948–1951,[21] by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
- Untitled, charcoal on ivory laid paper, 1922,[22] by Henri Matisse
- Personage and Birds in Front of the Sun (Personnage et oiseaux devant le soleil), ink and gouache on paper, 1942,[23] by Joan Miró
- This Thing is Made to Perpetuate My Memory (Cette Chose est faite pour perpetuer mon souvenir), ink, gouache or watercolor, and silver and bronze paint on board, 1915,[24] by Francis Picabia
- Head of a Woman (Tete de femme), red and black chalk with chalk wash on tan laid paper, laid down on lightweight Japanese paper, 1922,[25] by Pablo Picasso
Exhibitions, performances and lectures
Until the Museum of Modern Art was founded in 1929, Chicago and The Arts Club in particular was the most receptive exhibitor of modern art in the United States. At that time, no institution in the United States, especially none in Manhattan, would exhibit European modernism. By renting space at the Art Institute of Chicago's Building the Arts Club was able to arrange showings in Chicago's most prestigious museum.[4]
The club has exhibited an impressive number of well-known 20th century
Locations
The current location is the club's seventh location. However, this is the first building owned by the club. The location history is listed below.[7]
The first home at the Fine Arts Building had no exhibition space. The club was not able to put on its first exhibition until December 18 when it moved to a location with exhibition space. The club's early gallery spaces were not sufficient to achieve the club's goals and it agreed to assume cost and selection responsibilities for works in a series of shows at The Arts Club Exhibition Room at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1922 to 1927.[10]
Name | Street Address | Years | Architect/Interior Designer |
---|---|---|---|
Fine Arts Building | 401 S. Michigan Avenue | 1916–18 | Arthur Heun/Rue Winterbotham Carpenter |
610 S. Michigan Avenue | 1918–24 | Arthur Heun/Rue Winterbotham Carpenter | |
Wrigley Building (north tower) | 410 N. Michigan Avenue | 1924–36 | Arthur Heun/Rue Winterbotham Carpenter |
Wrigley Building (south tower) | 410 N. Michigan Avenue | 1936–47 | Arthur Heun/Elizabeth "Bobsy" Goodspeed Chapman |
109 E. Ontario Street | 1951–95 | Ludwig Mies van der Rohe | |
222 W. Superior Street | 1995–97 | ||
201 E. Ontario Street | 1997– | Vinci/Hamp Architects, Inc. |
Leadership
The club has had eleven presidents:[7]
Name | Years |
---|---|
Mrs. Robert McGann | 1916–1918 |
Rue Winterbotham Carpenter | 1918–1931 |
Elizabeth "Bobsy" Goodspeed | 1932–1940 |
Mrs. William B. Hale | 1940 |
Rue Winterbotham Shaw | 1940–1979 |
Mrs. Roger Barnett | 1979 |
James Phinney Baxter IV | 1979–1981 |
Stanley M. Freehling | 1981–2005 |
Marilynn B. Alsdorf | 2006–2011 |
Sophia Shaw | 2011–2013 |
Helyn Goldenberg | 2013–2017 |
Dale Pinkert | 2017–2020 |
Laura Washington | 2020–present |
Dues
A two-tiered dues system, established at The Arts Club's inception, is maintained to this day: professional members pay lower dues than patrons, ensuring that fine and performing artists remain a vital component of The Arts Club membership.[30]
References
Citations
- ^ Kruty, Paul (2005). "Armory Show of 1913". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Archived from the original on April 30, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
- ^ a b Warren, Lynne (2005). "Art". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Archived from the original on July 18, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
- ^ a b Roeder George H. Jr. (2005). "Artists, Education and Culture of". The Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago. Chicago Historical Society. Archived from the original on June 18, 2007. Retrieved June 27, 2007.
- ^ a b c Fitzgerald, pp. 120–1
- ^ a b c d "Honor : The Arts Club of Chicago". American Institute of Architects Chicago. Archived from the original on November 24, 2001. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "The Arts Club of Chicago Building Fact Sheet" (PDF). www.artn.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2006. Retrieved June 29, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e "Fact Sheet" (PDF). www.artn.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 15, 2006. Retrieved June 29, 2007.
- ^ Wells, p. 6.
- ^ Wells, p. 7.
- ^ a b Wells, p. 8.
- ^ a b Wells, p. 9.
- ^ Wells, p. 10.
- ^ Wells, p. 11.
- ^ Wells, p. 39.
- ISBN 0-8109-5892-9.
- ^ Wells, p. 72.
- ^ Shaw, p. 29.
- ISBN 0-8109-5892-9.
- ^ "Shaw, Sophia, editor The Arts Club of Chicago: The Collection 1916–1996". The University of Chicago Press. Archived from the original on September 18, 2006. Retrieved August 8, 2007.
- ^ Shaw, p. 40.
- ^ Shaw, p. 76.
- ^ Shaw, p. 74.
- ^ Shaw, p. 78.
- ^ Shaw, p. 86.
- ^ Shaw, p. 90.
- ^ Shaw, p. 123.
- ^ Fitzgerald, pp. 278
- Time, Inc. October 10, 1932. Archived from the originalon October 27, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
- Time, Inc. February 9, 1970. Archived from the originalon October 30, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2008.
- ^ "The Arts Club of Chicago". Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
Sources
- Fitzgerald, Michael C. (1984). Making Modernism: Picasso and the Creation of the Market for Twentieth Century Art. Farrar Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-37410-611-8.
- Shaw, Sophia (ed.) (1997). The Arts Club of Chicago: The Collection 1916–1996. The Arts Club of Chicago. ISBN 0-96434-403-3.
- Wells, James M. (1992). The Arts Club of Chicago: Seventy-Fifth Anniversary.