Roamings of a Leo: Gifts from the Chicago Art Institute

Colleen and I had enjoyed the amazing art at the Institute last year so it was a treat to visit the museum again. I focused on American painters and their work from about 1870 to 1950. Here are some of the gems I enjoyed.

"Self-Portrait" 1944 by Beauford Delaney (1901-1979). Delaney is the son of a Tennessee preacher and studied art in Boston before settling in 1929 in New York

"The Indestructibles" 1946 by Philip Evergood (1901-1973). Evergood was was born in New York City to an English mother and an Australian artist father. He attended English boarding schools plus Eton and Cambridge. He returned to New York in 1926, worked on WPA art projects in the '30's. "He maintained a socially conscious attitude in his art for the remainder of his career."

"Cotton Pickers" 1945 by Thomas Hart Benton, 1989-1975
Based on a trip he made to Georgia, Benton showed "the dignity of the cotton pickers in the face of back breaking labor and intense summer heat. Benton believed that African American history was central to the understanding of American culture."

"Blues" 1929 by Archibald J. Motley, Jr. (1891-1981).
Motley was born in New Orleans, LA, an African-American painter, studied painting at the Art Institute of Chicago. He chronicled the African-American experience during the 1920's and 30's.

"Self-Portrait" by Archibald J. Motley

"Woman with a Bird Cage" 1941 by Rufino Tomayo, Mexican, 1899-1991.

"This, My Brother" 1942 by Charles White (1918-1979).
"This, My Brother takes its title from a poem by John Rood about a rural minor who in this painting appears to break free from a mountain of rubble...White's hope for social change."

"Tattoo and Haircut" 1912 by Reginal Marsh (1898-1954)

"The Weaver" 1936 by Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957)
Rivera sought to challenge social and political inequities and to foster pride in Mexican culture.

"American Gothic" 1930 by Grant Wood (1891-1942)
A Carpenter Gothic house in Eldon, Iowa with a father and daughter modeled by Wood's sister and his dentist. They are painted to represent "American Gothic people"...Victorian people clinging to old values.

"The Boxer" 1942 by Richmond Barche' (1901-1989).
An African American sculptor from the Art Institue School who "created compelling works that emphasize the expressive potential of the body...inspired by famed Cuban featherweight "Kid Chocolate."

"Yellow Hickory Leaves with Daisey," 1928 by Georgia O'Keefe (1887-1986).

Left "Peru - Machu Picchu, Morning Light" 1957, Right "The White Place in Sun," 1943, Center Bottom "Spring" 1923-24, Center top "Road - Mesa with Mist" 1961 by Georgia O'Keefe.

"Swing Music (Louis Armstrong)" 1938 by Arthur Dove (1880-1946)

"Madawaska - Acadian Light-Heavy" 1940 by Marsden Hartley (1877-1943)

"Reclining Torso" 1922 by Alexander Archipenko (1887-1964)

"Mrs. Darrow" 1911 by Manierre Dawson (1887-1969)

"Portrait of Marevna" 1915 by Diego River
The Cubist manner of Pablo Picasso is shown here as this was painted while he lived in Paris.

"Grey and Silver: Old Battersea Reach" 1863 by James McNeill Whistler, American (1834-1903)

"On a Balcony" 1878-79 by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926)
Mary painted this in Paris after she joined the Impressionists group of painters and exhibited with them.

"The Child's Bath" 1893 by Mary Cassatt. She was known for her paintings of women and children..."the mother's encircling arms and gentle touch convey an overall feeling of protection and tenderness."

"Mrs. George Swinton (Elizabeth Ebsworth) 1897 by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).
The American livng in Partis became one of the most favored portraitist of fashionable Europeans and Americans.