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Art Institute of Chicago

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Established 1866
Location Chicago, Il., USA
Homepage [www.artic.edu]

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the premier fine art institutions in the United States. The Museum (overseen by President James Cuno) and the School (overseen by President Tony Jones) are incorporated as equal partners.

Contents

The Museum

Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
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Nighthawks by Edward Hopper

The Museum is known especially for its extensive collection of Impressionist and American art. It is located on the western edge of Grant Park, at 111 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois.

The School

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a professional college of the visual and related arts, accredited since 1936 by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, and since 1944 (charter member) by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. Its downtown Chicago campus consists of five buildings located in the immediate vicinity of the Museum. In order of acquisition they are:

American Gothic by Grant Wood
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American Gothic by Grant Wood

The School also owns:

History

Chicago Academy of Design

In 1866, a group of 35 artists founded the Chicago Academy of Design in a studio on Dearborn Street, with the intent to run a free school with its own art gallery. The organization was modeled after European art academies, such as the Royal Academy, with Academians and Associate Academians. The Academy's charter was granted in March 1867.

Classes started in 1868, meeting every day at a cost of $10 per month. The Academy's success enabled it to build a new home for the school, a five story stone building on 66 West Adams Street, which opened on November 22, 1870.

However, the Great Chicago Fire the following year destroyed the building, along with a great deal of the rest of Chicago, and threw the Academy into debt.

Chicago Academy of Fine Arts

Attempts to continue in spite of the loss, using rented facilities, failed. By 1878, the Academy was $10,000 in debt. Members tried to rescue the ailing institution by making deals with local businessmen, before finally abandoning it in 1879 to found a new organization, named the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. When the Chicago Academy of Design went bankrupt the same year, the new Chicago Academy of Fine Arts bought its assets at auction.

Art Institute of Chicago

The Art Institute of Chicago
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The Art Institute of Chicago

In 1882, the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts changed its name to the current Art Institute of Chicago. The same year, they purchased a lot on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Van Buren Avenue for $45,000. The property's building was leased, and a new building was constructed behind it, to house the school's facilities.

With the announcement of the World's Columbian Exposition to be held in 1892–93, the Art Institute pressed for a building on the lakefront to be constructed for the fair, but to be used by the Institute afterwards. The city agreed, and the building was completed in time for the second year of the fair. The construction costs were paid by selling the Michigan/Van Buren property. On October 31, 1893, the Institute was allowed to move into their new building.

Between 1959 and 1970, the Institute was a key site in the battle to gain art & documentary photography a place in galleries, under curator Hugh Edwards and his assistants.

Notable Alumni

Self-Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh
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Self-Portrait by Vincent Van Gogh

The Museum's Collection

Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges-Pierre Seurat
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Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges-Pierre Seurat

Pre-Columbian Art Figures <div class=
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Pre-Columbian Art Figures 

Today, the museum is most famous for its collections of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and American paintings.  Included in the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection are more than 30 paintings by Claude Monet, including six of his Haystacks and a number of Water Lilies.  Important works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, such as Lunch at the Restaurant Fournaise (The Rowers' Lunch) and Two Sisters (On the Terrace), as well as Paul Cézanne's The Bathers, Basket of Apples, and Madame Cézanne in a Yellow Chair, are in the collection.  At The Moulin Rouge, by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec is another highlight, as is Georges Seurat's Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte and Gustave Caillebotte's Paris Street, Rainy Day.  Non-French paintings completing the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist collection include Vincent Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles and Self-portrait, 1887.   Among the most important works of the American collection are Grant Wood's American Gothic and Edward Hopper's Nighthawks.


However, the museum has much more than paintings. Fine sculptures from all over the world can be seen. In the basement are the Thorne Rooms. There are exact miniatures demonstrating American and European architectural and furniture styles. Also in the basement are galleries displaying its world-class photography collection. On the main floor is the George F. Harding collection of arms and armor reflecting armaments and armor throughout the Medieval period and Renaissance. A fine collection of Pre-Columbian Meso-American ceramic figures is another outstanding display. A special feature of the museum is a "touchable" statue for the blind, and for children. It is an expressive facial portrait of young St. Joan d'Arc.  


The Art Institute's famous western entrance on Michigan Avenue is guarded by two bronze lion statues created by Edward L. Kemeys. When a Chicago sports team makes the playoffs, the lions are frequently dressed in that team's uniform. Just inside the eastern doors is a reconstruction of the trading room of the old Chicago Stock Exchange. Designed by Louis Sullivan in 1894, the Exchange was torn down in 1972. Salvaged portions of the original room were brought to the Art Institute and reconstructed. Leaving the Art Institute through the east doors at the end of the driveway is the Stock Exchange entrance. The Museum has recently announced a $350,000,000 addition to the building. The structure, designed by Renzo Piano will house the museum's modern works, which may compete with the city's other major art museum: Museum of Contemporary Art. The Art Institute hopes that the new addition will draw added attention to its 20th Century collections, which include such important paintings as Pablo Picasso's The Old Guitarist, Henri Matisse's Bathers by a River, and René Magritte's Time Transfixed. The curators of the museum believe that its modern collection is the third best in the world, after that of the MoMA and the Centre Pompidou; the modern collection, they concede, has been overshadowed in the past by the Art Institute's extraordinary 19th century collection.  The addition will also include a courtyard designed by [Gustafson Guthrie Nichol].



Image:Tactile St.Joan.jpg|St. Joan, a tactile statue for the blind and children 



Image:armour in collection AIofC.jpg|Armour 







Parliament of Religion and Swami Vivekananda


The Chicago Art Institute also happens to be the venue where  the famous Hindu
monk Swami Vivekananda addressed the  “World’s Parliament of Religions”  in 1893.
On September 11, 1995, the Art Institute put up a bronze plaque to commemorate Swami
Vivekananda's historic address. The plaque reads:


"On this site between september 11 and 27, 1893, Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), the first  Hindu monk from India to teach Vedanta in  America, addressed the world's parliament of  religions, held in conjuction with the world's Columbian exposition. His unprecedented success  opened the way for the dialogue between eastern and western religions."


On November 11, 1995, the stretch of  Michigan Avenue that passes in front of the Art Institute was 
formally conferred the honorary name "Swami Vivekananda Way". 




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