Art Institute Receives a Remarkable Collection and $3M Endowment Gift from The Stenn Family

From November 2022

The Art Institute of Chicago is pleased to announce both the acquisition of a transformative collection of contemporary prints and drawings and a financial gift from The Stenn Family. A promised gift of 97 prints and drawings—from artists including Josef Albers, Eva Hesse, Lee Bontecou, Judy Chicago, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt—will be united with more than 100 previously given works from The Stenn Family, creating a truly outstanding collection of works on paper by Pop, Conceptual, and Minimal artists from the 20th century. Representing an era that saw a radical change in how works on paper were made, used, and appreciated, this gift will allow museum visitors to see an expansive representation of this foundational moment in the history of drawing.

Via AIC PR

Read CGN's interview with Collector Irving Stenn from 2017 HERE

How Chicago Became an Art-World Capital Without Giving In to Art-World Clichés

The personal dimension of “Young Lords and Their Traces” is a reflection of many facets of [Theaster] Gates’s life in Chicago, where he was born and raised and continues to make his home and work. But in many ways it’s less about losses than gains—how ideas, practices, friendships, relationships, and passions endure and are kept alive. “I used to think that monuments were about statues of old guys,” Gates explains. “But when I was doing my master’s thesis, I wrote about a synagogue on the West Side of Chicago that had been transformed into a Baptist church, a flea market, and a synagogue again over 80 years. The synagogue is a monument. It is a testament to the truth of many accumulated lives.”

Via Harper's Bazaar

Coverage of the New WHO Modern / (northern)Western Exhibitions 

In a renovated, bowstring truss building in Skokie, Illinois, a joint venture between (northern) Western Exhibitions and WHO Modern officially opened its doors this past weekend to celebrate the launch of its shared space featuring contemporary art, midcentury modern design, vintage furniture, and decorative objects. The opening event, which took place on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022, celebrated the work of Geoffrey Todd Smith, a Chicago-based artist, and marked the debut of a new community destination initially envisioned by long-time Skokie-resident, Zach Williams, collector and building owner.

The creative brainchild of Williams, the space brings together iconic designs and contemporary artwork by artists from Western Exhibitions’ 20-year-long history, and is backed by the combined curatorial expertise of Scott Speh, director and founder of Western Exhibitions, and Donald Schmaltz, partner of WHO Modern.

Via Great Lakes Design