<p>Art for which the idea (or concept) behind the work is more important than the finished art object.&nbsp;</p>

Conceptual / Performance

<h3>Developed during the Italian Renaissance, primarily for aesthetics or beauty, the highest art was that which allowed the full expression and display of the artist's imagination.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – Pre 18th Century

<h3>Graphic Art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional. It includes calligraphy, photography, painting, typography, computer graphics, and bindery.&nbsp;</h3>

Graphic Art

<p>Works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects.</p>

Artists' Books

<p>The exploration of video art and music or sound set, including visual music, abstract film, audiovisual performances and installations.</p>

Video / Sound

<p>The objects produced by shaping pieces of clay that are then hardened by baking, or the skill of making such objects.</p>

Ceramics

<p>An artistic form in which hard or plastic materials are carved, modeled, casted, and constructed into a three-dimensional art object.&nbsp;</p>

Sculpture

<p>The process of creating artworks by printing, typically on paper. Printmaking normally covers only the process of creating prints that have an element of originality, rather than just being a photographic reproduction of a painting.</p>

Printmaking

<h3>Something made in an earlier period that is collected and considered to have value because it is beautiful, rare, old, or of high quality.</h3>

Antiques and Artifacts

<p>Imagery where the subject matter centers around a view or depiction of Chicago.&nbsp;</p>

Chicago Scenes & Regionalism

<p>Old Masters refer to any painter of skill who worked in Europe before about 1800.</p>

Old Masters

<p>Socio-Political art is used to help the public understand a particular social or political issue.</p>

Socio-Political

<h3>The attempt to represent subject matter truthfully, without artificiality and avoiding artistic conventions, or implausible, exotic, and supernatural elements.</h3>

Realism

<h3>Artwork (particularly paintings and sculptures) that is clearly derived from real objects and is representational.</h3>

Figurative

<h3>Individual works of art that are substantially or wholly made of glass. Glass art ranges in size from monumental works and installation pieces, to wall hangings and windows, to works of art made in studios and factories, including glass jewelry and tableware.</h3>

Glass

<h3>Artwork that often deals with Rococo, the Enlightenment, Neoclassicism, and Romanticism.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – 18th & 19th C.

<p>From the Tate Museum's website: Modernism refers to a global movement in society and culture that from the early decades of the twentieth century sought a new alignment with the experience and values of modern industrial life. Building on late nineteenth-century precedents, artists around the world used new imagery, materials and techniques to create artworks that they felt better reflected the realities and hopes of modern societies.</p>

Modernism

<h3>Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that continue to challenge boundaries.</h3>

Fine Prints & Painting – Contemporary

<h3>Art that is concerned with the design and decoration of objects that are chiefly prized for their utility, rather than for their purely aesthetic qualities including, ceramics, glassware, metalware, furniture, textiles, clothing, and more.</h3>

Furniture & Decorative Arts

<h3>Emerging art is work by artists who are still building their artistic careers and have not yet reached a more established and widely recognized status.&nbsp;</h3>

Emerging

<h3>Fiber art refers to fine art whose material consists of natural or synthetic fiber and other components, such as fabric or yarn. It focuses on the materials and on the manual labour on the part of the artist as part of the works' significance, and prioritizes aesthetic value over utility.</h3>

Fiber Arts / Textiles

<p>The quality of dealing with ideas rather than events. Freedom from representational qualities in art.</p>

Abstraction

<h3>Art by African-American artists.</h3>

African-American

<h3>The art and science of designing and making buildings, or the style of a building.</h3>

Architecture

<h3>Impressionism is a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, an emphasis on light and its changing qualities, and inclusion of movement as a crucial element of human perception and experience.</h3>

Impressionism

<p>From the Tate Museum's website: Abstract expressionism is the term applied to new forms of abstract art developed by American painters such as Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning in the 1940s and 1950s. It is often characterized by gestural brush-strokes or mark-making, and the impression of spontaneity.</p>

Abstract Expressionism

Numismatics

<p>Relating to Africa or people of African descent.</p>

African

<p>Eastern European art is a product of recent history. It can be traced to the division of Europe into the Western and Soviet spheres of influence of the allied victory over Germany in World War two.</p>

Eastern European

<p>Considered one of the most influential periods of art, featuring movements including Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, and Abstract Expressionism.</p>

Early 20th Century

<p>Skill and experience, especially in relation to making objects by hand.</p>

Craft

<h3>The skill of making plans, drawings, or arrangements to show how a building or product is made.</h3>

Design

<p>Asian art is diverse and rich, spanning thousands of years and dozens of countries. It is known for its ritual bronzes, beautiful ceramics, calligraphy, jades, textiles, painted landscapes, garden design, pagodas and stupas, and woodblock prints.</p>

Asian

<h3>An artistic genre of three-dimensional works that often are site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space.</h3>

Installations

<p>An art form that combines visual art with dramatic performance.</p>

Performance

<p>Some of the most prominent, highly influential artists, who challenged preconceptions and pushed the limits of visual art, shaping the art world of our time.</p>

Modern Contemporary Masters

<p>Created in accordance with the vision of the artist as a photographer, using photography as a medium to bring something to life that only lives in the artist's mind.</p>

Photography

<p>The design movement in interior, product, graphic design, architecture, and urban development from roughly the 1930's to 1965.</p>

Mid-Century

<p>A movement in art and literature that flourished in the early 20th-century. Surrealism aimed at expressing imaginative dreams and visions free from conscious rational control.&nbsp;</p>

Surrealism

<p>An innovative discipline which seeks to unify a large range of art forms. This is creatively achieved by combining an array of artistic insights and crafts such as film, literature, performance, music and sound, drama, visual arts, or design.</p>

Multi-Media

<h3>The depiction of landscapes in art—natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent composition.</h3>

Landscape

<p>Plein air is the act of painting outdoors. This method contrasts with studio painting or academic rules that might create a predetermined look.</p>

Plein-air

<p>Printed 2-D artwork which is designed to be affixed to a vertical surface, may consist exclusively of images, or images and text.</p>

Poster / Lithography

<h3>A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person.</h3>

Portraits / Portraiture

<h3>These works are often stunningly beautiful, and encourage the viewer to engage with the rich history of research and experimentation that led to the piece’s conception.</h3>

Scientific

<h3>The Art of the American West is defined by geographical subject, consists of historic and contemporary works of art which focus on varying expressions of individuals, landscapes, ideals, and myths of the American West.</h3>

Western (The American West)

<h3>Borrowed from Wikipedia: In visual arts, music, and other mediums, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Donald Judd, Agnes Martin, Dan Flavin, Robert Morris, Anne Truitt, and Frank Stella. It derives from the reductive aspects of modernism and is often interpreted as a reaction against abstract expressionism and a bridge to postminimal art practices.</h3>

Minimalism

<h3>Occupying the space between fine art and the everyday, functional art refers to aesthetic objects that serve utilitarian purposes. The genre is remarkably inclusive, it encompasses everything from furniture and lighting to dishes and even books.</h3>

Functional Art - Jewelry / Fashion

<p>A range of artistic practices encompassing both historical approaches to nature in art and more recent ecological and politically motivated types of works.</p>

Wildlife / Nature

Watches & Timepieces

Sports Collectibles

3-Dimensonal

Rare Books / Manuscripts

<p>Western European art represents a continuous, though disrupted, tradition from antiquity until the present time. Until the mid-19th century it was primarily concerned with representational and Classical modes of production. After the mid-19th century modern, abstract and conceptual forms gained favor.</p>

Western European

<h3>Artistic expression of Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, as well as Latin and Hispanic Americans living in other regions. Latin American art has roots in the many different indigenous cultures that inhabited the Americas before European colonization in the 16th-century.</h3>

Latin American and Hispanic

Comics

Large Scale (over 6')

<p>Visual art created in public locations, usually unsanctioned artwork executed outside of the context of traditional art venues. Common forms and media include spray paint graffiti, stencil graffiti, poster art, sticker art, street installations, and sculpture.</p>

Pop / Street Art / Graffiti

Medieval / Renaissance 

Non-Western

<h3>Art produced by self-taught or naïve art makers. Typically, those labeled as outsider artists have little or no contact with the mainstream art world or art institutions. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates extreme mental states, unconventional ideas, or elaborate fantasy worlds.</h3>

Folk / Outsider / Self Taught

American Regionalism

Literary Arts

Mosiac

<p>Includes manuscripts, prints, drawings, collages, and paintings on paper.</p>

Works on Paper

Prints and Drawings

<p>Since its founding in 1989 in Chicago’s River North arts district, The Golden Triangle has been a national source for Asian and European luxury furnishings.&nbsp;</p><p>Owners Douglas Van Tress and Chauwarin Tuntisak travel extensively, searching for pieces with a unique history and the highest quality. When they arrive in Chicago, they are displayed in curated vignettes that inspire and delight visitors to the 10,000 square foot showroom. The collection is remarkably diverse; a global mix of antiques, ancient artifacts, furniture, lighting, modern art, and accessories. These are the things that make a home unique and provide continuing enjoyment. Whether you are a designer or collector or simply looking for beauty, inspiration, and culture, The Golden Triangle welcomes you.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Opening April 2024:&nbsp; </strong><i>Hybrid Vigor: Indian Art, Architecture and Furniture 1850-1950</i></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Image: One of the Golden Triangle’s dramatic vignettes</p><p>&nbsp;</p>

The Golden Triangle

<p><em>December 24, 2024 10 am - 2:30 pm</em></p><p><em>Closed for Winter Break 12/25/24 - 01/01/25</em></p><p><em>The Smart Museum of Art will resume its normal hours of operation beginning 01/02/25.</em></p><p><br></p><p>As the fine arts museum of the University of Chicago, the Smart Museum of Art is a site for rigorous inquiry and exchange that encourages the examination of complex issues through the lens of art objects and artistic practice. Through strong scholarly and community collaborations and a welcoming approach to its exhibitions, collections, publications, research and teaching, and public programs, the Smart Museum plays a dynamic role in expanding artistic canons, rethinking received histories, introducing new perspectives, and engaging diverse communities—locally, nationally, and internationally.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>The Smart Museum will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2024. Admission is always free and open to all.&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Please visit our <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://smartmuseum.uchicago.edu/exhibitions/" target="_blank">website</a> for a complete list of current exhibitions and programs throughout the year.</p><p><br></p><p>Image: Installation view, works from the collection by Ivy Haldeman, Yeesookyung, Mark Rothko, and Lauren Quin</p>

Smart Museum of Art

<p>PAGODA RED is the destination for collectors who love the art, history, style &amp; spirit of Asian and handcrafted objects. Every item is authentic—historically and geographically—and wears the patina of many lifetimes served in homes, palaces and gardens. Ancient furniture and artifacts are conceptualized to fit a modern sensibility for their clients. &nbsp;</p><p>Located in the Bucktown neighborhood, PAGODA RED also proudly represents artists and makers from around the world. The showroom and online experience offer a balance of old and new.&nbsp;</p><p>In the early 1990s, owner Betsy Nathan studied Mandarin and moved to Beijing. There, she met a group of legendary Chinese furniture experts. Under their mentorship, she became an expert in provenance, craftsmanship, joinery and history. Nathan moved back to the United States and established her first showroom in Chicago in 1997. Over the last 20 years, the PAGODA RED team has grown into a renowned resource for designers, collectors and aficionados around the world.</p><p>Image: Installation View / Fine Art Kites by Michael Thompson / Image courtesy of PAGODA RED</p>

PAGODA RED

<p><em>We look forward to seeing you in the New Year!</em></p><p><em>Wrightwood 659 is closed for the holidays December 27th and 28th and will re-open Friday, January 3.</em></p><p><em>May your holiday season be filled with joy.&nbsp;</em></p><p><br></p><p>A hidden treasure in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood, Wrightwood 659 is a world-class gallery hosting powerful, thought-provoking exhibitions featuring architecture and socially engaged art since opening in 2018.</p><p>Designed by Pritzker-Prize winner Tadao Ando, one of the preeminent architects of our time, Wrightwood 659’s soaring, light-filled galleries offers both intimate and monumental experiences as visitors engage with the pressing issues of our time.</p><p>Exhibitions are curated by leaders in their field and are often unique to Wrightwood 659—each informed by a progressive and forward-thinking vision. They have included the works of more than 100 artists and architects such as Le Corbusier, Tadao Ando, Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. The visitor experience is enhanced by highly trained gallery educators.</p><p>Join the e-news list at wrightwood659.org to receive updates on exhibitions and programs.</p><p>Admission to Wrightwood 659 is only available during the public showing of exhibitions. Reservations are required and available exclusively at wrightwood659.org. Walk-up admission cannot be accommodated.&nbsp;</p><p>Image credit: Second floor, installation view at Wrightwood 659, 2018, © 2018. Jeff Goldberg.</p>

Asian

Other Specialties

Chicago Gallery News