The new season in art exhibitions is unusual for two reasons, one apparent, one not.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography;
hence, the preponderance of major photography shows.
This season also presents several important exhibitions later, in winter and spring, perhaps as a consequence of having to allow more breathing time now that big summer shows often bring us into September without a significant break.
The most important photography exhibitions will be at the Art Institute of Chicago and Museum of Contemporary Art, with fascinating complements at the Field Museum of Natural History, the Museum of Contemporary Photography and Chicago Public Library Cultural Center. It is a pretty impressive count.
The most common type of exhibition this fall is the one that draws on the strengths of Chicago collections, both public and private. Examples will be at the David and Alfred Smart Gallery, Spertus Museum of Judaica, Art Institute, and Museum of Contemporary Art, all justly proud and showing off.
The year`s big retrospective exhibition is for Chicago painter Ed Paschke, though it opens first at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris on Dec. 13 and will not come to the Art Institute until Sept. 1, 1990.
Similarly, the Museum of Contemporary Art will present retrospectives for Robert Longo and Georg Baselitz, next February and May.
By far the most curious show will be at the Chicago Historical Society, featuring work in clay from an historic workshop in-of all places!-Terra Cotta, Ill.
A lovely way to close the celebrations of the Bicentennial of the French Revolution will be the design show at the Newberry Library.
Here, in chronological order, are the season`s highlights:
Arnulf Rainer-Arguably the summer`s most exhilarating exhibition for one of the great figures in postwar Viennese art. Museum of Contemporary Art, through Oct. 15.
Training the Hand and Eye: American Drawings from the Cooper-Hewitt Museum-A survey of 75 sketches, exploratory drawings and works in progress by 34 artists from the mid-19th to the early 20th centuries. Terra Museum of American Art, through Nov. 5.
Agam in Chicago: The First 25 Years 1953-78-Chicago`s first solo exhibition for the celebrated optical and kinetic artist, drawn exclusively from local collections. Spertus Museum, Monday through December.
American Art Since World War II: Recent Acquisitions in the Department of Prints and Drawings-Works acquired during the last five years by such artists as Brice Marden, Cy Twombly, Philip Guston, David Smith and Susan Rothenberg. Art Institute, Monday through Jan. 2, 1990.
Sports Feelings-A Soviet-American collaboration of photographs documenting athletes in competition. Field Museum of Natural History, Thursday through Nov. 26.
Ellsworth Kelly-Six works by the master of post-painterly abstraction in a special installation he conceived for the second floor of the museum`s Rice Building. Art Institute, Friday and continuing.
On the Art of Fixing a Shadow: 150 Years of Photography-A 400-image blockbuster that traces the history of the medium from Henry Fox Talbot to Cindy Sherman. Art Institute, Saturday, through Nov. 26. (A complementary show of video tapes by some of the same artists will run from Sept. 30-Dec. 3.)
Wild Spirits, Strong Medicine: African Art and the Wilderness-More than 100 objects distilling African concepts of civilization and the wilderness. Northwestern University`s Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Sept. 21-Nov. 22.
Collection Privee du Comite Colbert-The only American showing of advertisements, graphic arts and design drawings from the archives of a famous French trade association of designers, businessmen and craftsmen. Newberry Library, Sept. 23-Oct. 28.
Western Textile Masterpieces from Coptic Times through the 19th Century-A selection of the museum`s finest examples of lacemaking plus woven, embroidered and printed textiles. Art Institute, Sept. 27-Jan. 22.
Present at the Creation-Monumental environmental/sculptural installations produced especially for the exhibition by Chicago artists Gerda Meyer Bernstein, Jin Soo Kim, Elizabeth Newman, Michael Paha and Robert Peters. Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Oct. 2-Nov. 11.
Architecture in Perspective IV: A National Competitive Exhibition of Architectural Delineation-A selection of 59 drawings from more than 500 entries by North American architects and professional architectural illustrators. Art Institute, Oct. 2-Nov. 26.
1889: The First Year of the Classical Collection-A selection of the vases, marbles and terra cottas from the first purchases in the museum`s collection of antiquities. Art Institute, Oct. 2-Jan. 15.
MCA Presents: Video Art, Video Documentation from Our First Two Decades-A compilation of works by artists the museum has shown and sponsored. The range is from highly manipulated, experimental tapes to straightforward documentaries. Among the artists are Vito Acconci, Laurie Anderson, Robert Ashley, Christo, John Baldassari and Bill Viola. Museum of Contemporary Art, Oct. 7-24.
Ritual and Reverence: Chinese Art at the University of Chicago-As the search for a new director of the Smart Gallery continues, an exhibition of porcelains and scrolls from the permanent collection celebrates the past. David and Alfred Smart Gallery, Oct. 10-Dec. 3.
Eric Bulatov-The final American stop of 22 paintings by a member of the first generation of Soviet artists that produced ”unofficial” works showing disenchantment with the government. Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, Oct. 15-Nov. 26.
The Photography of Invention: American Pictures of the `80s-A survey of 160 works by 80 artists who use photo images in ways that challenge the idea of the medium`s truthfulness. Museum of Contemporary Art, Nov. 4-Jan. 28.
Stephen Deutch Photography: From Paris to Chicago, 1932-89-A first retrospective exhibition treating the complete range of works-advertising to portraiture-of a longtime Chicago lensman. Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Nov. 11-Jan. 6.
Teco: Art Pottery of the Prairie School-Ceramic art designed by Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, George Grant Elmslie and several other Prairie School architects in the Illinois workshops of Gates Potteries in Terra Cotta, Ill. Chicago Historical Society, Nov. 18-Feb. 18.
Conceptual/Installations: Work by Robert Blanchon, Laurie Palmer, Mary Ellen Carroll and Foci: Jim Lutes-Site-specific works and new paintings by young Chicago artists. State of Illinois Art Gallery, Nov. 20-Jan. 5.
Waves and Plagues: The Art of Masami Teraoka-Large-scale watercolors and drawings by a Japanese-American who applies traditional Japanese techniques to contemporary subjects. Chicago Public Library Cultural Center, Dec. 9-Jan. 27. An Insight Into Contemporary Soviet Photography 1968/88-One of the first exhibitions to explore contemporary photography in a country that still denies it the status of art. Museum of Contemporary Photography, Dec. 22-Feb. 7.
