Chicago, Illinois
Events & Exhibits
“The Auschwitz Album: The Story of a Transport” at The Field Museum
Black-and-white photographs document the arrival and imprisonment of Hungarian Jews in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.
“Casas Grandes and the Ceramic Art of the Ancient Southwest” at The Art Institute of Chicago
In the deserts and mountains of the American Southwest and Northwestern Mexico, there flourished ancient Indian communities whose ceramics are among the most accomplished in the world. Bearing plumed and horned serpents, macaws, and lively geometric designs, these objects reveal an unknown story in the art and culture of Southwestern American Indian antiquity. This innovative exhibition highlights the imaginative graphic complexity and distinctive symbolism of Casas Grandes ceramics with vessels from c. 1250-1450.
“Work of Many Hands: The Art of Islamic Bookmaking” at The Art Institute of Chicago
The printing press came late to the Islamic world, in part because it was eclipsed by the popularity of elegant, handmade books. The written word has extraordinary importance in medieval Islamic society, built upon a veneration of the words of the holy Qur’an. A widely held opinion was that beautiful words (both religious and secular) deserved to be enhanced by calligraphy and vibrant decoration within carefully compiled books. Kings, governors, scholars, and other wealthy patrons encouraged this practice into a highly developed art form, and many invested large sums of money in illustrated copies of popular literary works.
“ANDY WARHOL/SUPERNOVA: Stars, Deaths, and Disasters, 1962-1964” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Focusing exclusively on the period between 1962 and 1964, the exhibition takes as its starting point the moment in Warhol’s career when he shifted his practice from the handpainted to the mechanical reproduction of the photo silkscreen process. Producing his serial portraits of movie stars concurrently with numerous disasters reported in the print media, Warhol provided a glimpse into a prevailing condition of American modernity — our dual fascination with celebrity and tragedy — that today remains a key component of our national identity. Looking back at this body of masterworks that is now some forty years old, it becomes clear that little has changed in American culture and that these paintings are as relevant today as they were in 1964. The exhibition is accompanied by Warhol’s “Screen Tests,” source materials, films of Warhol’s “superstars,” the film “Elvis at Ferus,” documenting his show at the Ferus Gallery, and a fully illustrated catalogue. The MCA presentation is coordinated by Curatorial Coordinator and Curator of Artists’ Books Tricia Van Eck.
“Alexander Calder in Focus: Works from the Leonard and Ruth Horwich Family Loan” at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Alexander Calder is the subject of a small exhibition each year at the MCA to provide an opportunity to look at how the seminal artist’s ideas developed throughout his fifty-year career. These works from 1927 to 1968, mostly from The Ruth and Leonard Horwich Family Loan, include examples of Calder’s mobiles, stabiles, drawings, and paintings. Calder combined colorful shapes abstracted from nature — snowflakes, birds, and animals — with an interest in mechanics to create whimsical, hanging mobiles that move with air currents. His explorations of both geometric and organic shapes have distinguished him as an innovator of art that responds to its physical environment.
“The African Presence in Mexico” at The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum
The Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum (MFACM) is showcasing The African Presence in México, the most comprehensive project ever organized about African contributions to Mexican culture featuring three exhibitions: The African Presence in Mexico: From Yanga to the Present, Roots, Resistance and Recognition, and Common Goals, Common Struggles, and Common Ground. The project also features numerous public and educational programs throughout the seven months that the exhibitions will be presented. The project examines the missing chapter in Mexican history that highlights the African contributions to Mexican culture over the past nearly 500 years. These groundbreaking exhibitions also attempt to stimulate a better understanding of Mexican culture among Mexicans and non-Mexicans alike.