Art Institute of Chicago
I had a quick, less than 48 hrs in Chicago a few weeks ago for a work session. I may have done my best to make sure that when I was in town I could head to the Art Institute of Chicago with the sole purpose of going to the Warhol exhibit. I saw that I had just missed it in NYC and was excited to see that it was in Chicago! If I had not been able to make it on a work trip, I probably would be trying to squeeze in a weekend trip!
I walked there directly after work and checked in my bags. I did wait about 20 minutes in line to get my tickets. Once I had my tickets, I bee-lined directly to the exhibit, which was in the back of the museum to the right. The exhibit, Andy Warhol -- From A to B and Back Again, was the first time in decades a single focused exhibit has been done on Warhol. Honestly, I did not know much about him.
The entrance to the exhibit shows some of the vast collection of portraits that he did. It set the stage for the rest of the exhibit.
The exhibit is set up chronologically. It starts with some of his earlier work, which included art from when he was in school. This piece below was transposed through drawing on one side, pressing it and then covering it in gold leaf. You can also see on the right hand side of the picture one of his sketches that was published in a news publication aligned with an article.
The exhibit then moved into some of the art that you are most familiar with! The exhibit also had the classic Campbell's soup cans and some of his other screen prints.
I did not get a great feel for what drew him to doing all the portraits other than it was available to him and he used portraits to portray a number of different elements. He would even sometimes use himself as a model.
The exhibit had two of his more famous prints as well -- Mao and Marilyn Monroe. The Mao painting in particular was done after Mao had been named Time Man of the Year. It was based off of picture of Mao -- Warhol never met Mao in person.
There were a few drawings, paintings that would be rated higher than PG in the exhibit. Warhol was quite interested in feet with shoes being publically displayed, but he also did a number of more personal sketches of bare feet. The shoe paintings are fairly famous -- I had a set of stationery with them printed on them about a decade ago.
The exhibit also has a set of even more personal sketches/paintings that you may want to shield small eyes from.
Near the end of the exhibit, there was a painting of the Last Supper with camouflage. I had not realized that Warhol was Catholic. The audio recording also implied that Warhol said that you do not have to look beyond the obvious to understand what he was trying to communicate. When I apply that to the painting below, it brings some interesting messages. This was the only painting that I am aware of that had a Catholic undertone to it.
I was a little surprised at the scale of the exhibit -- I really did not spend time elsewhere in the museum minus a few drive-bys to see some classics on the way out of the museum.
Time spent in museum: ~2 hrs (with about 20 minutes of that waiting in line to buy tickets)
Times visited: 3
Overall: A-
I walked there directly after work and checked in my bags. I did wait about 20 minutes in line to get my tickets. Once I had my tickets, I bee-lined directly to the exhibit, which was in the back of the museum to the right. The exhibit, Andy Warhol -- From A to B and Back Again, was the first time in decades a single focused exhibit has been done on Warhol. Honestly, I did not know much about him.
The entrance to the exhibit shows some of the vast collection of portraits that he did. It set the stage for the rest of the exhibit.
The exhibit is set up chronologically. It starts with some of his earlier work, which included art from when he was in school. This piece below was transposed through drawing on one side, pressing it and then covering it in gold leaf. You can also see on the right hand side of the picture one of his sketches that was published in a news publication aligned with an article.
The exhibit then moved into some of the art that you are most familiar with! The exhibit also had the classic Campbell's soup cans and some of his other screen prints.
I did not get a great feel for what drew him to doing all the portraits other than it was available to him and he used portraits to portray a number of different elements. He would even sometimes use himself as a model.
 |
| Self portrait of Andy Warhol |
The exhibit had two of his more famous prints as well -- Mao and Marilyn Monroe. The Mao painting in particular was done after Mao had been named Time Man of the Year. It was based off of picture of Mao -- Warhol never met Mao in person.
There were a few drawings, paintings that would be rated higher than PG in the exhibit. Warhol was quite interested in feet with shoes being publically displayed, but he also did a number of more personal sketches of bare feet. The shoe paintings are fairly famous -- I had a set of stationery with them printed on them about a decade ago.
 |
| Warhol shoes |
The exhibit also has a set of even more personal sketches/paintings that you may want to shield small eyes from.
Near the end of the exhibit, there was a painting of the Last Supper with camouflage. I had not realized that Warhol was Catholic. The audio recording also implied that Warhol said that you do not have to look beyond the obvious to understand what he was trying to communicate. When I apply that to the painting below, it brings some interesting messages. This was the only painting that I am aware of that had a Catholic undertone to it.
I was a little surprised at the scale of the exhibit -- I really did not spend time elsewhere in the museum minus a few drive-bys to see some classics on the way out of the museum.
A good visit! I am very happy I went to see it!
Time spent in museum: ~2 hrs (with about 20 minutes of that waiting in line to buy tickets)
Times visited: 3
Overall: A-
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