Chicago has reoccurring amnesia when it comes to art. Every couple of decades a new group of artists hit the scene with a new aesthetic that rivals anything that comes out of the major world art centers. They have a good run, are written and talked about in the mainstream local media, gain a little national and international attention, then fade away almost to oblivion. Why is that?
I was in school during the Imagists’ heyday of the early and mid ’80s. (Included with the Imagists are the Chicago Abstract artists as they had a similar sensibility and were just as well known.) They ruled this city back then. Many of them taught in this city’s institutions and most of them were regularly featured in Chicago Magazine. The work was engaging and challenging, yet still accessible for most people. Though not as big on the national scene, I had always thought that they were part of an important movement and had cemented their place in art history.
Somewhere, somehow along the line, their influence seems to have diminished considerably; much more than I had thought. Though I haven’t been to The Art Institute of Chicago in a while, I don’t remember seeing any work from this group on my last few visits. The Chicago and Vicinity Show is long forgotten and Phyllis Kind left town a long time ago. Three and a half years after the passing of Ed Paschke and there’s no signs of a major retrospective yet. The ‘85 Bears seem to have more longevity.
Despite the apparent fading of the Chicago Imagists movement, this is still one of the strongest periods in Chicago art. It is one that could be important in the larger art world, which in turn would bring more attention to this city and its reemergence as a major world art center.
There have been great recent attempts to rescue major Chicago art from the trash bin of forgotten art. The DePaul Art Museum hosted an incredible exhibition of the work of Julia Thecla, an important but largely forgotten artist from the 40s and 50s. Corbett vs. Dempsey’s mission is to reintroduce important Chicago art from the past. The Chicago History Museum’s current “Big Picture — a new view of painting in Chicago” is a fine overview of Chicago art history. Russell Bowman has a show on Chicago Imagism from 1965-85 right now.
While these are really great efforts, I can’t help but feel there is a certain amount of “where are they now” to this renewing interest in Chicago art while the Art Institute and the Museum of Contemporary Art only focus on bringing the “world” to Chicago. Because of the stature of the Art Institute and MCA in the art world, most of what they do gains instant credibility. Some major Chicago-focused shows would be deemed important just by association. For instance, instead of the Chicago Imagists being a sidebar in the current Jeff Koons show at the MCA, the Imagists are deserving of a major exhibition of their own…or how about a Monster Roster/Hairy Who/Chicago Imagists Exhibition. Perhaps a certain amount of space in the new contemporary wing of the Art Institute could be devoted to showing Chicago work. A continual incorporation of Chicago art in their exhibition schedules would help to keep this city from forgetting its past artists, help its current artists get the exposure they deserve, inspire new generations of Chicago artists and help this city truly be the world class city its political leaders say it is.
May 30th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Very good article, Bill. The last sentence sums it up nicely.
June 3rd, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Two rooms at the new Art Institute wing will be dedicated to Chicago art: one to art of the 60’s & 70’s and one to contemporary art, though neither room will be identified as such.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
That’s exactly the type of support that is needed here. I like the fact that it isn’t being segregated or at least called out as Chicago art. I feel that this city can be important again.
June 3rd, 2008 at 4:30 pm
I just wanted to throw in that for the last few years Indianapolis seems to have been the happening place for Chicago Imagist art. The gallery at Herron School of Art has held exhibits of Robert Lostutter,Karl Wirsum and Ed Paschke. I understand that David Russick was instrumental in organizing all of these exhibits. He moved on to a position at the IMA, maybe we’ll see some Imagists there. Also teaching at Herron is Andrew Winship, who recently organized an exhibit of 2nd generation Imagists, including himself in the group.
June 11th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Bill, Amen.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:09 am
I hope the curators at the museums are reading this blog!
Those art groups who achieved national and international fame since WWII
through the 1960’s are well known because of those associations, but, now as solo artists.
Paschke, Jim Nutt, Roger Brown, Gladys Nilsson, Karl Wirsum and Suellen Rocca continue to exhibit, probably some others.
Younger artists could gain so much seeing the work by all the Imagists, The Hairy Who and that other group…Paul Klein probably knows the name. Think about a reprisal of the original exhibitions?
Do you think its because the Hyde Park Art Center was the originator of some of the shows that the museums are staying away?
The work has been so influential, a show with the original artists and a sidebar with artists influenced by them could be very interesting.
I agree that Chicago artists seem to miss out in Chicago. I wish the Art Institute would resume its Chicago and Vicinity show, giving artists an opportunity to exhibit in a museum, critical to getting into many galleries. The MCA (besides 12×12) could have a juried Chicago group show.
June 13th, 2008 at 8:34 am
“I hope the curators at the museums are reading this blog!”
It’s pretty apparent that most of the curators in Chicago don’t care about Chicago artists (living or dead) and reading this essay or the numerous other blogs and sites that discuss the same injustices (if they even are reading all this stuff…?) doesn’t seem to change their minds on this matter. The only change that will happen will come from artists themselves…and that is happening already.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I am with a group of African American women artists called Sapphire and Crystals. We have been a nomadic group that has shown our works at numersous galleries in and out of Chicago for years!
We had no trouble understanding that no one was looking for us. Since we began, the first show was in the 1980’s at the South Side Community Art Center, individual artists have gotten critical reviews, a couple of the shows I curated were featured by the Chi. Dept. of Cultural Affairs during Chicago Artists Month, etc. Artists have included sculptor Geraldine McCullough, Marva Jolly,ceramic artist, Rhonda Wheatley, now a Flatfile Gallery artist, Felicia Grant Preston and others, including me, who have developed solo careers with the support of this group. Members teach at the Art Institute Columbia College, Chicago State University, etc.
But you never know who is paying attention. Wanting the curators to pay attention does not mean sitting on your hands until they do!
We are all saying the same stuff from different sides of town.