Editorial Review:

Chicago's fine arts have long languished in the shadow of the city's architectural riches, but their time has finally come, most prominently as the focus of the final major exhibition at Chicago's Terra Museum of American Art. The attendant catalog of the Terra Museum's fall 2004 exhibition, "Chicago Modern, 1893-1945: Pursuit of the New", is the first-ever survey by a major art museum of early American modernist works created by Chicago artists.
At the opening of the twentieth century, Chicago was regarded as the quintessential modern city that would provide fertile soil for a new national art. The debut of impressionism at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 bore early witness to this expectation as it marked the arrival of modern art in Chicago. In the midst of great local controversy, and echoing debates raging at the time in New York and Paris, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago incorporated modernism into its curriculum, a move that led Chicago-trained artists to experiment in and reinterpret the prominent art movements of their time. Here, for the first time, this work is showcased. This volume focuses on the rich body of artistic work produced during the city's artistic "golden age," the period from the 1893 Exposition through the end of World War II.
Noted art scholars contribute to the volume with essays that explore how Chicago painters created a unique niche in these transformative international art movements--from the impressionism of the 1800s to the social realism and surrealism of the 1930s and 1940s--and forged a regional consciousness through experimental means. This detailed and lavishly illustrated catalog examines the larger issues and concerns that shaped art in Chicago during this period, offering a new and valuable addition to regional American art scholarship and a fitting farewell for one of Chicago's most beloved art museums.
Contributors:
Wendy Greenhouse
Elizabeth Kennedy
Daniel Schulman
Susan Weininger

Customer Reviews:

Avg. Customer Rating: 5.0 / 5.0

"Chicago Modern" 1893-1945:

I have not even bought this book yet. I got it from the library. Yes, I am
from the Chicago area, but my painting clients live in L.A. where I left
Illinois and lived in L.A. for nearly 30 years. This book bursts with beautiful
color images, all are color. It is 175 pages and shows the wide-ranging art
and wonderful experimentation in a city that was probably one of the most flourishing
cities around the beginning of the 20th century. But they show you the best
of the... more info

amazing Chicago:

Good to see Chicago modern art getting such a splendid treatment -- I learned a lot about all the different artists working, and came away with a sense of Chicago as a rich and exciting place for modernist painters

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