Art Institute of Chicago, 4

Our last full day in Chicago included yet another visit to the AIC...

Just a minute detail from Raqib Shaw's monumental Paradise Lost;
next time

Not the best angle...Nick Cave's Untitled comment 
on Black labor in the US

Roman head-gear; somehow reminded us of Disney World

A model after Alexander Calder's Flamingo sculpture,
which adorns a federal building in Chicago

Picasso's preparatory sketch for the "Chicago Picasso"
sculpture at Daley Plaza

A model thereof

Chagall's America Windows, a gift to the AIC on the occasion of
the US Bicentennial

Interior of the old Chicago Stock Exchange

The AIC has several works by Hubert Robert, a late 18th

century French artist who specialized in paintings of Roman

ruins, both in France and Italy

David, Madame de Pastoret and Her Son, 1791-92;
unfinished because they had a falling out...she, a royalist, 
he, not so much; a precursor to Madame Recamier...

Never miss a Vernet...Morning, 1760

Hals, Portrait of a Lady, 1627

Rembrandt, Give Me a Little Head, 1632; aka Man with
a Golden Chain

Steen, The Family Concert, 1666

Poussin, Landscape with St. John on Patmos, 1640

Claude, View of Delphi with a Procession, 1673

Le Nain Brothers, St. Jerome, 1642

Cranach, Portrait of Magdalena of Saxony, 1529

Cranach, Crucifixion, 1538

Veronese workshop, St. Jerome in the Wilderness, 1590; I am collecting
Jerome paintings for my forthcoming biography of Rene Ssance

Theotokopoulos, Jesus Taking Leave of His Mother, 
1590; also something about sleight of hand tricks for
the disciples

We finished with an exhibition of sculptures by 
H. C. Westermann, "Anchor Clanker"; here, his
Jack of Diamonds, 1981

Angry Young Machine, 1959

Art Institute of Chicago, 3

We returned to the AIC on December 18th to continue our multi-day tour of this great museum.

We began with the Thorne Miniature Rooms, apparently
something unique to the AIC; sounds hokey, I know, but
they really are impressive, capturing a variety of interior
scenes in Europe and North America across several
centuries

Even more impressive through the camera's lens...

Now in the nearby photography department...a shot of Jean Genet,
apparently on a book tour in Chicago in 1965...

A Fantin-Latour portrait of Manet...two favorites

The AIC's collection of Daumier bronze caricatures...all cast from
Daumier's clay models in the 20th century

Apart from being the greatest thespian of all time, so far, Sarah Bernhardt also
dabbled in art and sculpture...here a brass sculpture inkwell, Self-Portrait as a
Chimera, 1880; wow!

A Delacroix Lion Hunt

A fairly large Turner seascape, Fishing Boats with Hucksters
Bargaining for Fish, 1837

Across the room, an interesting comparison, same year, Valley of Aosta:
Snowstorm, Avalanche, and Thunderstorm; not so far from 1842's classic
Snow Storm...

Early Delacroix sketch for you know who...

Fragonard, Portrait of a Man in Costume, 1767

Watteau, Pastoral Gathering, 1721; never miss a Watteau

Now we have cross the Pond and are touring the (North) American section,
here, a great Winslow Homer, The Herring Net, 1885

Double-Plated Lamp by the Boston and Sandwich Company;
kerosene, c. 1865

Sofa, 1849, attributed to Charles Baudoine; mahogany carving,
interesting design; crucificado?

Mary Cassat, After the Bullfight, 1873; interesting on so
many levels...did you know that matador literally means
murderer? Alternative title: "I'd slay a bull for a Camel"

Rare disrobed John Singer Sargeant, Life Study, 1891

Steer-horn Armchair, unknown, 1870-1880; not longhorns,
we think, but the horns and tassels really work...

Lock, Frank Koralewsky, 1911; iron, inlays of gold, silver, etc.; depicts
the Grimms' Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Charles Rohlfs, Hall Chair, 1900; could pass for a Mackintosh, no?

Tiffany, Lilies, 1895

Frank Lloyd Wright, Tree of Life Window, 1904

Mark Sherouse, Self-Portrait, 2025; wait...no...
Tiffany mirror, attributed to Clara Driscoll, one of
Tiffany's major designers, only now getting recognition...;
never mind the man behind the phone...