GIFTS TO THE CITY MINI-TOUR
Every year, the museum receives hundreds of generous donations and exciting
additions to the museum’s collection, and 2016 is no exception. Across the
entire museum this holiday season, we’re presenting some of the remarkable
works that recently joined the collection—our gifts to the residents of and
visitors to Chicago.
G a l l e ry 1 0
Our House (2011) by Rashid Johnson
Rashid Johnson’s photography often revolves around themes
of slavery and race relations, especially as they relate to his
hometown of Chicago. He created this photogram using the
inexpensive Vandyke printing process. This involved covering the paper with an iron-salt solution, placing objects on
handmade paper, and then exposing the paper to light. The
objects that Johnson used to create the images in this series
are all food staples associated with African American consumption during the centuries
of slavery: watermelon seeds, chicken bones, and, in the case of this outline of a house,
black-eyed peas.
G a l l e ry 1 26
Two Girls in Regional Costume (n.d.)
by François Hippolyte Lalaisse
In the mid-19th century, painter and illustrator François
Lalaisse traveled to Brittany, a region in northwest France,
to record its local costumes for a publication that illustrated
the area’s picturesque outfits. This oil sketch is a preparatory
drawing for the publication and shows two young women
in the simple dress of the region. Later in the 19th century,
Brittany became a popular destination for Post-Impressionist artists who were trying to
develop their artistic vocabulary. Paul Gauguin, in particular, found inspiration for his
early works in traditional Breton costumes like those shown in this drawing before
traveling to Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands and shifting his focus to the people and
culture of those regions.
G a l l e ry 1 3 4
Altar Set, Qing dynasty,
Jiaqing reign (1796–1820), China
Exceptional in its near-perfect preservation, this Chinese
altar set is composed of two candlesticks, two beaker vases,
and a tripod censer (a container in which incense is burned).
Likely made for Buddhist rituals, these vessels would have
been arranged in a line across the altar, with the censer in the
middle and the candlesticks and vases flanking it symmetrically.
Participants would light incense, say a prayer, and place incense in the censer, so the
fragrance could carry the prayers skyward and facilitate communication with deities or
deceased family members. The candles were meant to shine light on the darkness of
ignorance, and flowers were offered in the vases to symbolize ephemerality.
G a l l e ry 1 3 7
Cassava Fermentation Vessel (late 20th century)
by Frarasia Bukusi
This commanding vessel from southern Tanzania enriches the
Art Institute’s unparalleled collection of African ceramics.
Several features, including the sharp transition at the wide
midpoint and the repeating arched motifs—called mahena—
indicate it was made by a potter of the Nyakyusa culture in
the region north of Lake Malawi, most of whom are female.
Used to ferment and store beer made from cassava root, the vessel showcases Nyakyusa
potters’ interest in surface detail and the artistry dedicated to everyday household objects.
While the identity of most makers is unknown, records preserve the name of this vessel’s
creator, a woman named Frarasia Bukusi.
G a l l e ry 20 5
Christ Carrying the Cross (1515/17)
by Sebastiano del Piombo
This painting by Sebastiano del Piombo depicts a popular
subject during the Renaissance, Christ carrying the cross. As
Simon of Cyrene attempts to help him lift the cross, a crowd
gathers in the background in anticipation of Christ’s arrival.
Considering the scene’s compositional power—the diagonals
of the cross, poignant expressions, and luminous landscape
background—it is not surprising that Sebastiano worked in Rome alongside distinguished
painters of the Italian High Renaissance, such as Michelangelo and Raphael. This painting is
the first major discovery of a work by Sebastiano in recent years.
G a l l e ry 23 1
Reliquary (about 1851)
by Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc
Although this reliquary was never used to hold sacred objects,
the design is based on an actual medieval reliquary that
survived the French Revolution in a monastery outside of
Paris. Both feature pinecones, a symbol of perpetual life.
During the revolution, many religious buildings and objects
were destroyed, and the aftermath gave rise to significant
rebuilding and restoration. French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc not only led the restoration
of Notre-Dame in Paris but also designed objects like this reliquary that could be purchased
by churches.
G a l l e ry 3 92
Small Town by Day (1922–23) by Georg Scholz
At first glance, this charming small German town appears
orderly and picturesque, but a closer look reveals a more
sinister side. A puffed-up officer in uniform walks proudly
through the town while a wounded vet hobbles in the other
direction; a bloated butcher squeezes clean the intestines of
a pig and holds a bloody knife in his mouth, as a young boy
scoops manure from the horse-drawn hearse in the street.
Artist Georg Scholz was part of a movement in 1920s Germany called New Objectivity,
in which artists rejected the idealism of romanticism and the emotion of expressionism
and embraced a more matter-of-fact, satirical approach to challenge viewers’ perceptions.
P R I TZ K E R G A R D E N
MENDED PETAL (2016) by Yoko Ono
MENDED PETAL represents the 13th petal from artist
Yoko Ono’s installation SKYLANDING, a 12-petal lotus
in Chicago’s Jackson Park that rises from the ashes of the
Phoenix Pavilion, a structure built for the 1893 World’s
Columbian Exposition. After the fair ended, the pavilion
was given as a gift from Japan to the people of Chicago,
but it was lost to arson in 1946. In contrast to the smooth
petals that compose SKYLANDING, MENDED PETAL has visible seams of repair,
symbolically commemorating the ground-healing ceremony held by the artist in June 2015
through which she prepared the site of the lost Phoenix Pavilion for her new work. Ono
chose the placement of MENDED PETAL in Pritzker Garden and dedicated the work to
the museum at a ceremony held on October 18, 2016.
G a l l e ry 1 5 1
Statuette of a Horse (750/730 b.c.), Greece
This figure of a horse was created around 750/730 b.c., a
time that witnessed the organization of the first Olympic
games and the development of the Greek alphabet. The
Greek people’s worship of the Olympian deities included
the ritual dedication of gifts (votives) at sacred sites. These
offerings took a variety of forms, but statuettes of horses
had special significance as symbols of affluence. This bronze
sculpture is one of the finest such votive statuettes to survive from antiquity.
G a l l e ry 27 2
Fire Screen (1924/30) by Max Kuehne
For this elaborate fire screen, American artist Max Kuehne
drew inspiration from a variety of sources, including
medieval tapestries, Japanese screens, and Persian miniature
paintings. His interest in Persian art, in particular, is evident
in the bold menagerie of exotic, stylized animals bounding
through a lush landscape. Kuehne started his career as a
painter, but after spending time in Spain between 1914 and
1917 and observing craftsmen carving and finishing wood, he expanded his practice to
include decorative arts. He quickly became known for his unconventional carved, painted,
and gilded furniture, including beds, desks, tables, and fire screens, like this fine example.