The Art Institute of Chicago is fantastic. It’s on par with the DIA in terms of awesomeness and significance of collection. The layout of the museum feels like it’s evolved through several additions, and it’s not particularly easy to navigate. They have a lot of well known works, like A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, American Gothic and Warhol’s Mao, which are impressive to see in person after having seen them so much in photos. Their collection of Indian art was really interesting, as it’s not something that I’ve seen a lot of. The modern wing is a total departure from the rest of the museum, it’s clean and white, with tall ceilings. It feels like it’s trying to be a separate place, and it’s working. My favorite exhibit in the modern wing was about Studio Gang, a group of architects. It’s not terribly common to see architecture presented in a museum setting, and this exhibit shows their design process really well.
They had a pretty decent furniture/decorative arts collection. This piece? It’s by David Wolcott Kendall.*
I liked the Art Institute of Chicago a lot, but I wish I’d had more time to spend there. As it was, I got to spend about three hours there, but could have been there all day and still not have seen everything. For next time, I think I’ll allow a day and a half, just for the AIC.
I’d like to give a huge shoutout to Dylan for making this whole trip possible. Yay for Dylan!
*David Wolcott Kendall is known for A) Being the designer who Kendall College is named after and B) Having owned a ton of old books that I had to find records for last year and C) Being a really big deal in terms of…like…furniture design.