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This is not your father’s
Art Institute.
But your dad will like it too.
Not only does Renzo Piano’s new
Modern Wing at the
Art Institute of Chicago adds an elegant component to the city, the dynamic views of Chicago from inside the galleries actually interact with the artwork.
Stunning. Inside and out.
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The Modern Wing
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The city is an important theme in modern art and
Piano’s architecture engages brilliantly with Chicago. The steel beams reflect the high rises to the north while the limestone bricks recall the
Art Institute’s main structure. The wing is a bridge between the city’s past and future, a gateway between the natural world and the structural. To reinforce these themes,
Piano has constructed the
Nichols
Bridgeway, a 620-foot pedestrian bridge that floats over Monroe Street, connecting the
Modern Wing to Millennium Park and the rest of the city.
Piano has a reputation for creating art museums that provide the best conditions for looking at art and he has outdone himself here. In contrast to the dense, often suffocating, atmosphere found in many museums, there is an airy sense of expansion and light inside the
Modern Wing. The sunlight spills in through the skylights in the hallways and around the protective shades in the galleries to temper the artificial light. The visitor is always aware that there is a world outside the museum and the curators have used that awareness to maximum benefit.
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Envisioned
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And while we pay homage to
Piano for his structural vision, the contribution made by the museum curators should not be overlooked nor minimized. It is the staff that has created the master vision inside the
Modern Wing. The art has never looked better and the space has never felt so welcoming.
It is important to note that the galleries divide the art works into general chronological categories but once you enter the galleries, don’t expect to be taken on a chronological journey through the world of modern art. This isn’t Art History 101.
This is better.
The curators have installed the art to convey a myriad of ways to look at and enter into the works. The art works are positioned to interact with one another, the staff using a variety of themes and formal artistic and structural elements to highlight relationships between the paintings and, magically, the Chicago landscape. Viewers are free to ponder the larger connection between the world of art and the world itself.
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Griffin Court is airy
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The new
Monroe Street entrance spills visitors into
Griffin Court, a long skylight-filled corridor. Bright and airy, it played host to a special event when I visited and I imagine that it will be a favorite spot for museum receptions as well as private events. Even with the crowds,
Griffin Court felt spacious.
The
Abbott Galleries are located on this floor and they will feature changing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art.
Cy Twombly: The Natural World, Selected Works 2000-2007 is on view through September 13 and
Twombly’s fascination with landscapes and waterscapes makes him a perfect artist for the inaugural exhibition. There are also new galleries devoted to photography as well as film, video and new media. Video artist
Steve McQueen’s 15-minute film about the making of rapper Tricky’s Girls, Tricky is the first video installation.
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Cy Twombly portrayals of the natural world
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The
Modern Wing is huge, 264,000 square feet, and the museum has done a wonderful job helping its visitors find their way around. There are touch-screen computer kiosks in the
Modern Wing and throughout the entire institution that provide a variety of information on events and exhibitions, and there are a lot of traditional maps and signage for those who just want to wander.
There is a glass and steel staircase that leads up to the
Contemporary Art (works produced from 1945 to the present) and
Architecture and Design galleries, and a small open café and gift shop on the 2nd floor. Behind the shop is a path that leads into the
Impressionism and American Modern Art (art produced between 1900- 1950) galleries in the main building of the
Art Institute.
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Architecture and Design Galleries
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The
Architecture and Design galleries are a must-see. These galleries contain a century’s worth of evolution in architectural drawings and models, a MOS digital video piece that provides wonderful atmospheric music, Ammer’s interactive Spiderweb and an assembly of spectacular furniture. Windows inside the galleries look out onto the rest of the wing, highlighting the connection between the works inside the galleries, the new wing, and the world as a whole.
The other side of the atrium holds the
Contemporary European and American displays, including a room devoted to the color field paintings of Ellsworth Kelly that benefit highly from the natural light. The light also brings new depth to
Robert
Ryman’s Charter Series.
In an adjacent room, the curators have placed
Gerhardt Richter’s all-gray works facing away from windows, allowing his color panels to profit from the outside light.
Richter’s Woman Descending the Staircase receives its own wall, framed by the window blinds and steel beams that echo the pattern of the stairway in the painting. The window blinds are closed during the day since too much natural light can harm the art works but seeing this painting framed by the glittering city outside is reason enough to plan a visit during a winter late afternoon or evening.
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Piano's "Flying Carpet"
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The top of the new wing is covered by
Piano’s roof canopy, or "flying carpet," of precisely modeled aluminum blades that allow the northern light to filter into the 3rd floor galleries while shielding the art work from the more intense southern light. The galleries on this floor seem truly alive, the light changing and shifting as the clouds and the canopy move.
The 3rd floor galleries poetically begin and end with works by
Pablo Picasso, his 1903 Blue Period
The Old Guitarist gently leading the viewer toward the increasing abstraction of such artists as Brâncusi and Mondrian and returning to Picasso’s 1959
Nude Under a Pine Tree as a final work.
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The Modern Gallery
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The museum now has space to display of more of its Surrealist collection, some of which had been kept in storage. The Surrealists are a favorite of mine and this new display of the collection is breathtaking.
The top floor also contains the sleek new 160-seat restaurant,
Terzo Piano, helmed by renowned
Spiaggia executive chef
Tony Mantuano. Floor to ceiling windows provide a fantastic view of
Millennium Park.
Mantuano cooks contemporary Italian, incorporating local and organic ingredients whenever possible. The restaurant offers salads and entrees are in $15-$25 range and is open daily for lunch and dinner on Thursday evenings. 60 additional seats will be available outside as the weather warms.
Just outside, connecting to the
Nichols Bridgeway, is the 3400-square-foot open air
Bluhm Family Terrace that overlooks
Millennium Park and the city skyline and will feature rotating contemporary sculpture. There is no charge to visit the
Bluhm Family Terrace and it is open during museum hours throughout the year.
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Views of the city from Ryan Education Center
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Speaking of family and free, the new 20,000-foot
Ryan Education Center is located on the first floor of the
Modern Wing and its resources and programs are always available to families for no charge. With views of
Millennium Park and the
Pritzker Garden, it includes a family orientation room and a special kids shop as well as five classrooms, three studios, an educator resource center. The first special exhibition in the new
Education Center is a lovely display of
Melissa Sweet’s thoughtful illustrations for the Caldecott Award–winning
A River of Words: The Story
of William Carlos Williams by Jen Bryant.
There’s so much more to mention: the new acquisitions that are on view, the
Pritzker Garden, the new museum shops and how the
Art Institute is re-imagining the collections and exhibitions in its original galleries but really, it’s time for you to stop reading and go experience this yourself. And call your dad (if you can) - he’ll like it too. It’s simply spectacular, inside and out.
WHERE: Museum entrances are located at 111 S. Michigan Ave. and159 E. Monroe St. in Chicago.
WHEN: The museum is open every day except Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Check www.artic.edu for seasonal hours.
COST: Adults: $16.00, Students and seniors: $12.00, Children under 14:Free. Admission is free May 16 through May 22. Discounts of $2 apply to Chicago residents. The museum is free on Thursday s from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m all year, Friday evenings 5:00 to 9:00 p.m.f rom Memorial Day to Labor Day, and all hours during the month of February. Free admission passes are also available though the Chicago Public Library's local branches. Admission to the Modern Wing and all special exhibitions is covered under general museum admission. For more information, go to www.artic.edu
Photos: Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago
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