Coin silver pitcher designed by John Cann and David Dunn, retailed by John Cox and Company, 1855-56. The form of this pitcher, or ewer, is ancient, but its decoration is a revival of the French Eighteenth Century ornamental style known as Rococo. Favored by New York silversmiths, the repousse pattern of clusters of grapes, twisting vines, and curling tendrils embodies characteristics of the Rococo Revival.

 

American Arts

at The Art Institute of Chicago

CHICAGO, ILL. - For the first time in its long history, the Art Institute of Chicago has published a volume devoted to its extensive collection of American art. This landmark publication features two hundred of the museum's finest Out of a total of nearly 3,000 objects, it bring together paintings, sculpture, and the decorative arts to show the range of American cultural and aesthetic production.

Most striking, perhaps, is the Art Institute's aggressive position in the market. Though they not the only highlights in a collection studded with masterworks, all of paintings and objects illustrated on these pages were acquired, either by gift of purchase, over the past decade. Some readers will even recall a few of these pieces from auction.

Like Chicago itself, the Art Institute's collection of American art is heavily weighted toward the second half of the Nineteenth Century and reflects the diverse artistic experiences of that period. As author Judith A. Barter, Field-McCormick Curator of American Arts at the Art Institute, writes, this collection "is inextricably tied to the rise of Chicago after the Great Fire of 1871, to the insecurities of the Midwestern city without the grand tradition of New York or Boston, and to the program of education devised by wealthy Chicagoans for the city's working class."

Barter continues, "The growth of this collection was often marked by the conservatism of the museum's trustees and donors, although...there were daring acquisitions and controversial exhibition throughout the century."

This book begins with a lively introduction by Barter on the evolution of the museum's collection and the social context in which it developed. It describes the formation of the American collection, traces its growth, and discusses some of the important patrons and support groups who have made possible the acquisition of works in this area.

The Department of American Arts dates only to 1975, when the museum's departments were reorganized. It combines painting and sculpture through 1900 with decorative arts to the present day. Since 1988, with the completion of the Rice Building, a 30,000-square-foot area has been dedicated to the department.

American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago ranges from roughly 1650 - the era of early Puritan settlements in New England - to World War I and the onset of the modern era. Because of their importance, a number of the paintings included were drawn from the Art Institute's Twentieth Century department.

The breadth of the museum's collection is apparent in its fine arts. Featured are paintings by George Bellows, Mary Cassatt, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Ralph Earl, Childe Hassam, Robert Henri, Winslow Homer, Ammi Phillips, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, to name but a few. Daniel Chester French, Horatio Greenough, Frederick MacMonnies, Paul Manship, Hiram Powers, Randolph Rogers, Frederic Remington and Augustus Saint-Gaudens are just a few of the sculptors who are included.

The extensive selection of decorative arts ranges from Seventeenth Century New York silver and Eighteenth Century Newport furniture to Gilded Age commissions by Tiffany and Herter Brothers. Standouts include a Newport shell-carved kneehole desk attributed to John Townsend, a Boston bombe chest attributed to John Cogswell and a New York serpentine-front five-legged card table. A labeled Lannuier card table, the promised gift of Jamee and Marshall Field, is surely one of the Institute's Nineteenth Century holdings.

In addition to Barter's essay on the history the museum's collection, American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago features 150 detailed catalogue entries by Barter, Kimberly Rhodes and Seth A. Thayer, with contributions by Andrew Walker. The collection itself is divided into four chapters: "From Colony to Nation," "The Young Republic," "The Civil War Era and The Gilded Age," and "The Modern Era." The entries describe the aesthetic importance of the objects while placing them within a cultural and historical context.

The book concludes with a glossary of decorative arts terms, helpfully presented in pictorial format; and an index.

Judith A. Barter has been Field-McCormick Curator of American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago since 1992. She was previously associate director of the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College, Mass., and assistant curator at the Saint Louis Art Museum. She is author of May Cassatt: Modern Woman, recently published in conjunction with the exhibition of the same title, as well as American Drawings and Watercolors at the Wadsworth Atheneum (Hudson Hills Press, 1988).

Kimberly Rhodes, a former member of the department of American arts at the Art Institute, is assistant professor of art at Hollins University in Roanoke, Va. She worked previously at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Olana State Historic Site, and the Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, N.Y.

Seth A. Thayer, also a former member of the department, is an independent consultant.

Andrew Walker is assistant curator of American painting and sculpture at the Art Institute.

Published by the museum, American Arts at The Art Institute of Chicago is distributed by Hudson Hills Press, 122 East 25th Street, New York, N.Y. 10010, telephone 212/674-6005. The 360-page hardcover volume sells for $75 hardcover.