the art institute of chicago centennial lectures || front matter

The Art Institute of Chicago

Front MatterSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 10, The Art Institute of ChicagoCentennial Lectures (1983), pp. i-1Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4104324 .

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The Art Institute of Chicago Centennial Lectures



$35.00 FPT


Centennial Lectures

The Art Institute of Chicago Centennial Lectures commemorates the 100th anni-

versary of Chicago's great museum.

Sponsored by the Art Institute's Aux-

iliary Board, it includes 18 essays on a

fascinating range of subjects, all of which reflect in some way the museum's outstanding and richly varied collections and curatorial departments. Whatever your interests-be they early 20th-century photography, Thomas Eakins or Grant Wood, Nigerian art, Greek mythology, Japanese woodblock

prints, Renaissance drawings, the plan of Chicago, the legacy of the Art Insti- tute's early and farsighted patrons-you will find many stimulating and

insightful articles in this deluxe com- memorative volume. Contributors include such distinguished art historians as Sydney Freedberg, John Shearman, Ellis Waterhouse, Wanda Corn, and

Roger Keyes.

Front and back jacket images:

See Fig. 1, See Fig. 7, See Fig. 1, p. 332 p. 247 p. 254





The Art Institute of Chicag o

Centennial Lectures Museum Studies io

Contemporary Books, Inc.

Chicago



Copyright @ 1983 by The Art Institute of Chicago All rights reserved

Published by Contemporary Books, Inc. 180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60601

Manufactured in the United States of America

Published simultaneously in Canada by Beaverbooks, Ltd. 195 Allstate Parkway, Valleywood Business Park, Markham, Ontario L3R 4T8, Canada

Designed by Lynn Martin, Chicago Typeset by Automated Office Systems, Chicago

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Main entry under title:

The Art Institute of Chicago centennial lectures.

(Museum studies; 10) 1. Art-Addresses, essays, lectures. I. Art

Institute of Chicago. II. Series: Museum studies

(Chicago, Ill.); 10. N81.C45 vol. 10 [N7443.2] 700s [700] 83-1892 ISBN 0-8092-5978-8




Centennial Lectures



I II

I



Krinsky document Burnham's Plan of Chicago as a major achievement in city planning efforts. Still others attempt to clarify the internal history of a single masterpiece by retracing the artistic

process from the preparatory stages to its completion, as Eitner and Shearman do for Gericault and Raphael, respectively. Their particular concern is the reconstruction of the preliminary stages in the evolution of an artwork. They study drawings to understand the choices made and the ideas rejected by the artist as he evaluates and refines his ideas on form and content.

Every art object has an intimate history of its own development, as Eitner observes. In some

cases, we have ready access to this history through extant preliminary drawing material or

through letters or account books. In these cases, an art historian can reconstruct the intimate

history by a careful reading of such documents. To varying degrees, Corn, Keyes, Turner, and Weidman have also been involved with these concerns. It is not a task that is possible in all

periods, nor for all artists, being dependent, as it is, on available evidence.

Although hardly an exact science, art history is governed by certain techniques and meth- ods in its approach to problems. These essays demonstrate the range of tools and procedures useful for solving the mysteries inherent in a field where there are so many missing links- where an artist may be dead or unknown, or where function, symbolic content, original location, and materials are often uncertain. While archival proficiency and technical training in the use of a variety of media are prerequisites for much scholarly investigation, the visual

impressions and insightful comparisons of a renowned art historian can be equally instructive. In some of these essays, therefore, the reminiscences and overview of a respected scholar are

presented in such a way as to raise provocative new issues or synthesize a diffuse body of information. The remarks of Sir Ellis Waterhouse on the great Chicago collectors of the early twentieth century-some of whom he knew personally-are fascinating sidelights of history to be smilingly savored. Far different in tone and subject matter is the view of the forces behind the development of a specifically American aesthetic in photography outlined in the informal style of John Szarkowski. Karl Schefold provides this same kind of personal-and highly philosophical-interpretation of ancient Roman painting, which has been gleaned from innumerable years of study. Pratapaditya Pal does likewise for Indian art of the Gupta period.

Whether they be investigative art historical procedures or general philosophical viewpoints, the insights afforded into recent art historical scholarship by this collection of essays are

far-reaching and always stimulating. This centennial project, moreover, is a model for a

significant, forward-looking approach to museum scholarship. By inviting scholars to take a

fresh look at objects in their collections, museums can shift their emphasis, encouraging creative, new ways of using their own resources.

Jean Goldman, Editor

ix



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