FINE ARTS

By Anne M. Nordhaus-Bike and Kay McKinlay Ford | December 2008

The Art Institute of Chicago has one of the best collections of tapestries in the U.S., and now visitors have a rare opportunity to see what makes it so special with The Divine Art: Four Centuries of European Tapestries. On view only through Sunday, January 4, 2009, this spectacular show is the largest tapestry display ever at the museum, presenting 70 monumental pieces from the permanent collection of nearly 100 works.

For Christa C. Mayer Thurman, the Art Institute’s curator and chair of textiles, this exhibit climaxes a heroic journey that began more than four decades ago. “The [tapestry] collection was mentioned when I interviewed for the job [as head of the textile department] in 1967,” Thurman explained. “I was told to start with the tapestries, but there was no staff, no facility, no money—the department had to be built. So first we had to simply put the collection in a safe place in storage.”

Over the years, the department occasionally displayed an individual tapestry but never the full collection because it lacked space both for exhibiting and for conserving these massive works. Some tapestries in the collection approach 20 feet wide, and many soar more than a dozen feet high. During conservation, a given tapestry might have to sit on a loom for years or even decades to permit lengthy, painstaking restoration.

“In the back of my head, on all my travels, I looked at conservation facilities in Europe” that could clean and restore the Art Institute’s collection, Thurman noted. After 25 years she located a Belgian company that had developed a revolutionary cleaning system. Swearing her to secrecy, the director shared the process with Thurman; in 1995, she had the company use it on a trial tapestry. “I was there, and [it] went extremely well,” she said. “I asked the director of the lab to come to Chicago and give me estimates for the rest.”

Then began one of the biggest conservation, cleaning, and research projects the museum has ever undertaken—and to pay for it, the Art Institute began one of the most concerted fundraising efforts in its history. Said Thurman, “We had such an outpouring of Chicago support. In the end, it was nickels and dimes and asking, ‘Please? Help?’ We even had an adopt a tapestry program.” This local financial support brings the collection full circle, as Chicagoans donated most of the tapestries the museum owns.

Meanwhile, for 13 years, Thurman and a team of seven worked to get the tapestries ready for exhibition and to organize the current show. “These are loose, pliable fiber, so they get rolled [for storage or transport] and put in huge, coffin-like boxes,” she noted. Thurman personally accompanied all 15 shipments to and from the Belgian conservation lab and even worked closely with the Dutch long haul truckers involved in the project.

Her attention to detail has paid off with one of the most impressive exhibits ever mounted by the museum. Entering the show, visitors encounter massive masterpieces that cover entire walls of galleries and depict stories from mythology, history, and religious texts as well as scenes of everyday life. With brightly colored wool, silk, linen, and even threads wrapped in gold and silver, they tell the full story of this medium, which began in earnest in the late Middle Ages, came to its golden age between 1500 and 1750, and largely declined after the French Revolution except for the Arts and Crafts revival of textile arts in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Highlights include a series of 14 tapestries telling the Story of Caesar and Cleopatra; pieces designed by renowned painters such as The Bird Catchers by Francois Boucher, Pomona by Edward Burne-Jones, and Autumn and Winter by Charles LeBrun; and rare works such as Large Hanging with Crown and Escutcheon, which was made in Peru around 1700 and reflects the colonial era by blending South American and European influences and using unusual motifs such as a caduceus.

“And there are fantastic verdure tapestries, from the French word vert, which means green,” Thurman added. “They have lots of leaves; the English call them ‘forest work.’ In one of these [Large Leaf Verdure with Animals and Birds], an Asian influence on the flowers, animals, all of it, is reflected in the tapestry.

“This is a first, a unique opportunity,” she continued. “I have been here 41 years, and this is the first time we have had a show like this. So it’s like a debutante party—the coming out for this collection, which is special because all of these are ours—they are from our permanent collection.”

Visitors must make a point to see the show soon, however, as it closes after only two months on view—rather than the approximately three months usually allotted for major shows at the Art Institute—after which the tapestries will enter storage for many years. As Thurman explained, “Exposure is a critical aspect of this medium. You cannot display tapestries for long because they used organic dyes, which are fugitive [not colorfast or permanent]. If you expose something for one month, then it has to rest for ten years, so the tapestries in this show will be put away for 20 years.”

The museum is open every day from now until the show closes, with the exception of Christmas and New Year’s Days. Hours are 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Saturday and Sunday. Admission costs $12 for adults and $7 for children, students, and seniors; admission is free for all on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m. For more information, call (312) 443-3600 or visit www.artinstituteofchicago.org.

ART

Chicago Architecture Foundation, 224 S. Michigan Ave., presents a show about O’Hare Airport entitled ORD: Documenting the Definitive Modern Airport. Designed by a team of architects led by C.F. Murphy Associates, O’Hare remains one of the largest architectural commissions in Chicago’s history. The show opens Thursday, Jan. 15. For further information visit www.architecture.org or call (312) 922-3432.

Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., presents Deceptive Design: Experiments in Furniture; Hidden Treasure: The Lane Tech Murals; James Allen: Paris Sketches; and Made in Chicago: Photographs from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection. Call (312) 744-6630 or visit www.egov.cityofchicago.org for details.

Gallery 400, 400 S. Peoria St., presents This Shadow is a Bit of Ideology through Saturday, Jan. 24. Curated by Kelly Chen and Anthony Elms, its participating artists interpret today’s politics. Call (312) 996-6114 for details or visit www.uic.edu/aa/college/gallery400/01_exhibit-upcoming.htm.

Hyde Park Art Center, 5020 S. Cornell Ave., invites all to a free drop-in day of art activities and performances; treat the entire family to an opportunity to explore their creativity on Sunday, Dec. 14, 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Call (773) 324-5520 or visit www.hydeparkart.org for details.

Illinois State Museum Chicago Gallery, State of Illinois Building, 100 W. Randolph St., Suite 2-100, shows work by 11 Illinois artists exploring plants as conduits between humanity and the natural world through Friday, Jan. 16. Call (312) 814-6322 or visit www.museum. state.il.us/ismsites/chicago.com.

Intuit, 756 N. Milwaukee Avenue, presents Sticks, featuring work by self-taught artists who use whatever materials are available to them. It features work by notable Chicago artists along with that of unknown makers and opens with a reception on Tuesday, Jan. 16, from 5 to 8 p.m. Also, Finding Beauty, the art of Lee Godie, is on display through Saturday, Jan. 3. Call (312) 243-9088 or visit www.intuit@art.org.

National Museum of Mexican Art, 1852 W. 19th St., presents Herejias by Mexican photographer Pedro Meyer, who is as renowned for powerful and provocative photographs as he is for pioneering work in digital imaging. Also, the La Vida Sin Fin/Day of the Dead exhibit runs through Monday, Dec. 14. For more information, visit www.nationalmuseumofmexicanart.org or call (312) 738-1503.

National Vietnam Veterans Museum, 1801 S. Indiana Ave, is showingWarriors-Protectors of the Earth through December to spotlight work by American Indian veterans and artists. Also showing is Carnival of War by painter Richard Yohnka, running throughout December. Call (312) 326-0270 or visit www.nvvam.org for details.

Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies, 618 S. Michigan Ave. A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald Fund is the first exhibition to explore the legacy of the fund created by Chicago business leader and philanthropist Rosenwald to foster black leadership through the arts. For more information visit www.spertus.edu or call (312) 322-1700.

Linda Warren Gallery, 1052 W. Fulton Market, presents the landscape show Somewhere, Elsewhere featuring Shay Kun, Judy Natal, Eric Esper, Zach Taylor, Joseph Noderer, Nina Rizzo, Douglas Walker, and Matthew Woodward; it runs through December. Call (312) 432-9500 or visit www.lindawarrengallery.com for details.

Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2320 W. Chicago Ave, presents Things Greater than Stars: Jurij Solovij Retrospective opening Tuesday, Jan. 27. The first exhibition of Solovij’s work in the U.S. since his death in 2007, it opens with a reception on Sunday, Jan. 27, 2 to 5 p.m. Call (630) 240-7112 or visit www.uima-art.org for details.

Woman Made Gallery, 685 N. Milwaukee Ave., presents its Artisan Gallery Invitational show through Thursday, Dec. 18. Call (312) 738-0400 or visit www.womanmade.org.

MUSEUMS

Adler Planetarium, 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr., presentsOne World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure through December. This original planetarium show is based on the popular children’s program, Sesame Street. Visit www.adlerplanetarium.org or call (312) 922-STAR for details.

Field Museum, 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr., invites all to Nature Unleashed: Inside Natural Disasters through December. Explore nature’s dynamic relationship with Earth through a series of stunning displays, state-of-the-art animations, and poignant largescale images. For information call (866) Field-03 or visit www.fieldmuseum.org.

Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave., invites all to Work/Place through Saturday, Jan. 31. The exhibition displays work by Ann Carlson and Mary Ellen Strom, Thomas Demand, Lars Tunbjork, and Karen Yama to depict the banal and absurd activities of office life. Call (312) 663-5554 or visit www.mocp.org for details.

Museum of Science and Industry, 57th Street and Lake Shore Drive, presents Smart Home. All are invited to explore a real, three-story modular and sustainable “green” house in the museum’s backyard to learn how to make eco-friendly living a part of their lives. On Mondays through Thursdays until Thursday, Dec. 11, buy one adult general admission at ticket counters and get one free. For more information call (773) 753-6230 or visit www.msichicago.org.

MUSIC

Sherwood Conservatory of Music, 1312 S. Michigan Ave., performs an all-school holiday concert on Saturday, Dec. 13. Admission is free, and the recital is open to the public. For details visit www.colum. edu/Sherwood_conservatory/index.php or call (312) 427-6267.

THEATER

Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand Ave., presents Macbeth by William Shakespeare and directed by Barbara Gaines in the Courtyard Theater. In this story infused with superstition, ghosts, and madness, Macbeth murders his king and all who might make claim to the throne. The show opens Friday, Jan. 2, and runs through Sunday, March 8. For times and ticket information call (312) 595-5600 or visit www.chicagoshakes.com.