5 Chicago museums will be open late Friday to celebrate city’s reopening

Some of Chicago’s museums are helping celebrate Chicago’s reopening Friday with late-night hours, staying open until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m.

In a celebration announced by Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office, five Chicago museums will participate to mark the June 11 Open Chicago initiate, when the city follows the State of Illinois in entering phase five of the pandemic recovery, or full reopening. “One of the best ways we can celebrate our city’s reopening is by spending time at our renowned museums, which have undergone so many challenges over the course of this past year,” said Mayor Lightfoot in the announcement. “That’s why I am thrilled that so many of our most iconic museums will be opening their doors until late this Friday night to give residents and visitors a head start on returning to a sense of normalcy.”

Via Chicago Tribune

Modernist building’s slated demolition exposes weaknesses in Chicago’s landmark laws

The building’s official address on Fullerton Parkway is a parking lot, so odds are you’ve never really noticed the beautiful structure on Cleveland Avenue, set half a block back.

But take a closer look: Some of the loveliest brickwork you’ll ever see in Chicago forms the 1967 Cenacle Sisters Retreat and Conference Center, at 513 W. Fullerton Parkway, designed by local architect Charles Pope.

“It’s a keeper,” I would say. Except that it’s not. See it while you can, because it’s likely about to be smashed to rubble, with the express permission of the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.

Via Chicago Sun Times

The Metropolitan Museum of Art Will Return Two Benin Bronzes to Nigeria, Putting Pressure on Other Museums to Do the Same

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will return three artworks, including two Benin Bronzes, to Nigeria, accelerating a fast-moving development to repatriate the nation’s treasures, which were looted by British forces in the late 19th century.

The three artworks headed to the Nigerian national collections are two 16th-century brass plaques created at the Court of Benin and a brass head produced in Ife sometime around the 14th century.

Via Artnet

Column: Martha Lavey, sorely missed, will be aptly remembered on the walls of Steppenwolf

When Chicago’s famed Steppenwolf Theatre opened its new Lincoln Park home in 1991, it debuted a building intentionally unadorned.

The Tribune’s Sid Smith described the dour décor of the fortresslike building on Halsted Street as “deliberately threadbare.” The construction was by way of gray concrete blocks and washed cement, both inside and out...

So Monday’s announcement that Tony Fitzpatrick has designed a special mural that will be attached to an exterior wall of the theater was striking news. The mural is part of the theater’s epic expansion over what (in 1991 and long thereafter) was a vacant lot between the theater and a parking garage that budget problems left famously unfinished. (As witnessed close-up by at least two generations of travelers on the CTA Brown Line).

Fitzpatrick is anything but glossy or suburban. But his work also is a long way from concrete blocks and water stains. In fact, this commissioned mural (his largest to date and perhaps his crowning career achievement) will be printed digitally on ceramic tiles.

Via Chicago Tribune