This will be a remarkably diverse year in our museums not only for artists of many countries and cultures but also for time periods, ranging from the Renaissance to the present day.
Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-443-3600
“Van Gogh and Gauguin: The Studio of the South”: 130 works exploring the artists’ brief period of collaboration in Arles in 1888. Sept. 22-Jan. 13.
“Sight-Set-Sequence: Photographs from the Permanent Collection”: How photographers and artists conceive and execute individual photographs meant to be combined with others to form a single work. Nov. 10-April 21.
“The Sidewalk Never Ends: Street Photography Since the 1970s”: An up-to-date survey of a genre that began in the 19th Century. Nov. 17-April 28.
“Holy Cow: Indian Animal Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago”: A survey of the ways the “otherness” of animals has been depicted. Feb. 9-June 1.
“The Nitty-Gritty of Weave Structure, Part I”: An exploration of particular structures in textiles. Feb. 13-May 27.
“Ansel Adams at 100”: The first reappraisal of the photographer’s output since his death in 1984. Feb. 23-June 2.
“Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937-1971”: The first exhibition to focus on the achievements of the Chicago school’s formative and peak years. March 2-May 12.
“German Art and Its Revivals”: works on paper highlighting recent German acquisitions. June 15-Sept. 22.
Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.; 312-280-2660
“The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994”: The first major exhibition to survey the period through art, film, photography, graphics, music, architecture, literature and theater. Through Dec. 30.
“Felix”: Maurizio Cattelan’s dinosaur-size skeleton named after the famous cartoon cat. Sept. 14 and continuing.
“12 x 12: New Artists/New Work”: The first in a series of monthly shows of younger artists in Chicago begins with paintings and drawings by Laura Mosquera. Oct. 5-28.
“William Kentridge”: The first American retrospective for the South African filmmaker and draftsman. Oct. 20-Jan. 20.
“Oli Watt”: An installation by Chicagoan that is composed of more than 1,000 miniature street barricades. Nov. 2-Dec. 2.
“Out of Place: Contemporary Art and the Architectural Uncanny”: Works by 12 artists demonstrate how ordinary places can become strange and threatening. Jan. 12-May 12.
“Gary Simmons”: Recent drawings and sculptures dealing with black identity and imagery. Feb. 16-May 19.
“Donald Moffett: What Barbara Jordan Wore”: New paintings and an audio installation inspired by a late 20th Century political figure. May 26-Oct. 20.
“Andreas Gursky”: The first major retrospective in the U.S. for the German master of large, often manipulated, color photographs. June 22-Sept. 22.
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.; 312-744-6630
“Jin Lee: Landscapes”: Photographs presenting a dialogue between Western and Eastern traditions of representing landscape. Oct. 6-Dec. 2.
“The Emancipation of the Common Object: Sculpture by Victoria Fuller”: Household objects transformed into ironic artworks. Oct. 13-Dec. 9.
“Urban Exposure: Paintings by Robert Donley”: Large-scale paintings of cities done in a faux-naive style. Oct. 13-Dec. 9.
“Herbert List Retrospective: The Magic Eye”: More than 200 black-and-white images by a German modernist photographer. Oct. 20-Dec.10.
“Ceramics National 2000”: A traveling survey of the ceramics scene. Jan. 12-March 17.
“Red Grooms: Selections from the Graphic Work”: More than 40 years of printmaking by an artist long admired in Chicago. Jan. 19-March 31.
“Magnum Cinema: Photographs from 50 Years of Moviemaking”: Behind-the-scenes imagery from some of the giants of the legendary photo agency. April 20-June 23.
“Protected Comforts: Sculpture by Todd Slaughter”: Four installations on the themes of excesses in self-protection and consumerism. April 6-June 2.
Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario St.; 312-787-3997
“Christopher Wilmarth”: Exhibition of a poetic minimalist whose sculpture achieved great distinction in the 1970s and 1980s. Sept. 20-Nov. 3.
“Alighiero Boetti”: The first solo exhibition in Chicago of works by the Italian conceptualist who was part of the influential Arte Povera group in the 1970s. Jan. 24-April 6.
“Richard Artschwager”: Pieces by the former furniture maker who has used the forms of everyday objects as the basis for his sculpture. April 25-July 19.
Terra Museum of American Art, 666 N. Michigan Ave.; 312-664-3939
“Arte Latino: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum”: 66 paintings, sculptures and photographs highlighting two centuries of Latino art. Continuing through Nov. 11.
“(Re)presenting Women”: Works by women artists from the collection. Oct. 16-Jan. 13.
“Frederick Carl Frieseke: The Evolution of an American Impressionist”: A survey of 70 paintings by the famous expatriate. Dec. 1-Feb. 3.
“Ambassadors of Progress: American Women Photographers in Paris, 1900-1901”: Nearly 70 photographs from an historic exhibition at the world’s fair from the turn of the last century. Jan. 26-April 14.
“Jasper Johns: Prints from Four Decades”: A retrospective in all the print processes the veteran American artist has explored. Feb. 16-April 28.
“Ruth Harriet Louise and Hollywood Glamour Photography”: Vintage prints by the only woman to head a portrait studio for a major movie company. April 26-July 7.
“Impressionism Transformed: The Paintings of Edmund C. Tarbell”: The first traveling retrospective for a leader of 19th Century painting in Boston. May 11-July 20.
Museum of Contemporary Photography, 600 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-663-5554
“Bertien van Manen”: The first major exhibition in the United States by a renowned documentary photographer from the Netherlands. Continuing through Oct. 13.
“Joachim Schmid”: 120 images from a collection of discarded photographs found on the street during the last 20 years. Continuing through Oct. 13.
“50 Cent Masterpieces”: Fashion photographer Victor Skrebneski curates a show of enlargements news photos. Continuing through Oct. 13.
“Audible Imagery: Sound and Photography”: Artists who “illustrate, enhance or navigate” the experience of sound in their works. Oct. 27-Dec. 22.
“Shifting Tides: Cuban Photography after the Revolution”: Social, political, personal concerns by three generations of Cuban artists. Jan. 11-March 9.
“Barbara Crane: The Loop”: A two-year project in the 1970s to photograph the fabric of downtown Chicago architecture. March 22-June 15.
“The Great Fire of 1871”: Sixty photographs taken two weeks after the fire that destroyed Chicago. March 22-June 15.
“Vera Lutter”: Images taken in Chicago with a large-scale camera obscura by the German photographer. March 22-June 15.
“Ellen Carey: The Mourning Wall”: A meditation on loss made up of 100 Polaroid negatives covering an entire gallery wall. March 22-May 18.
“Dressing Up: Costume in the Collection”: The part that costuming plays in photography. May 3-Aug. 10.
Illinois Art Gallery, 100 W. Randolph St., Suite 2-100; 312-814-5322
“The Land Around Us: Landscapes from the Collection of the Illinois State Museum”: 47 painters, printmakers and photographers look at the land, dating from 1885 to the 1990s. Continuing through Oct. 19.
Harold Washington Library Center, 400 S. State St.; 312-747-4050
“Out of the Woods: Turned Wood by American Craftsmen”: Works by 27 contemporary wood-turning artists. Continuing through Sept. 23.
“A Nation’s Conscience: Paintings by William Gropper”: An introduction to the American artist through 30 paintings and 10 cartoon reproductions. Oct. 6-Jan. 20.
“Out of Time: Designs for the Twentieth Century Future”: 60 prescient works exploring the hypothetical in transportation, space exploration and robotics. Feb. 16-April 14.
Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, 5811 S. Ellis Ave.; 773-702-8670
“Simparch & Kevin Drumm”: The artist collective creates a barrel vault for which the electronic musician provides a soundscape. Sept. 16-Oct. 28.
“Detourism”: An eight-person group show on a variety of experiences relating to globalization. Nov. 11-Dec. 23.
“Feng Menbo: Q4U”: A new phantasmagoric video game by a leading Chinese video artist. Jan. 13-Feb. 24.
“Michel Auder: A Retrospective”: A 30-year survey by a pioneer in video. March 10-April 21.
“Catherine Sullivan”: An installation accompanied by performances of the California artist’s stage works. May 5-June 16.
David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, 5850 S. Greenwood Ave.; 773-702-0200
“Crossing Borders: Modern Photographs from Central Europe”: The first in a series of exhibitions highlighting new photography acquisitions supplemented by key loans. Continuing through Dec. 16.
“Dreams and Disillusion: Karel Teige and the Czech Avant-Garde”: A 30-year retrospective of paintings, collages, photomontages and book covers by a leading figure of European modernism. Oct. 4-Dec. 30.
“A Well-Fashioned Image: Clothing and Costume in Europrean Art, 1500-1850”: The symbolic role played by dress in European art from the Renaissance to the mid-19th Century. Oct. 23-April 28.
“Recent Chinese Photography from the Smart Museum’s Collection”: Large-scale photographs and photo-based installations. Dec. 22-March 24.
“The Art of Mu Xin: Landscape Paintings and Prison Notes”: Works that respond to the changes in 20th Century China. Jan. 24-March 31.
“Critical Mass”: Recent activist art. April 25-June 23.
“Nature, Myth, Allegory: Imagining Reality in the 19th Century”: Works from the permanent collection exploring the means 19th Century artists used to understand their times. May 14-Oct. 6.
Mary & Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University; 1967 South Campus Dr., Evanston; 847-491-4000
“Prints by Sculptors: The Rudolph H. and Fannia Weingartner Collection”: Two-dimensional works by some of the 20th Century’s most important 3-dimensional artists. Sept. 22-Dec. 9.
“College Proofs: The Riverhouse Editions”: A gift of works by contemporary artists, from the atelier on the Elk River. Sept. 20-Oct. 28.
“Pastime”: A multimedia installation by Molly Davis on parent-child relationships. Sept. 29-Dec. 9.
“Drawings by Vera Klement”: 15 works on paper by the veteran Chicago artist. Sept. 29-Oct. 28.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 280 S. Columbus Dr.; 312-899-5100
“Transspace Obsession”: A collaborative installation that turns the space at 1926 N. Halsted St. into a video game. Sept. 22-Oct. 13.
“Ask Me!”: A performance installation by Laurie Jo Reynolds at 847 W. Jackson Blvd. Oct. 12 and 13.
“Mortal”: An eight-person show on death and dying. Oct. 19-Nov. 28.
“Im ortal”: Time-based artworks that examine cultural and personal perspectives on death. Oct. 26 and 27 (at 847 W. Jackson Blvd.).
“Resynthesis”: Works by 10 contemporary sound artists and an exploration of various sound-production tools. Dec. 7-Jan. 23.
College of Du Page, 425 22nd St., Glen Ellyn; 630-942-2321
“Unnatural Selection: New Work by Charlie Cho”: Pieces commenting on the synthetic and mutated world that man has created. Sept. 27-Nov. 3.
“The Devil is in the Details”: A group show made up of works that are entirely about details. Jan. 10-Feb.16.
“The History of the Family Photograph: Photographs and Memory Connecting the American Past and Present”: The DuPage County community will be examined through images, lectures and panel discussions. Feb. 21-March 28.
“A Sound Installation by M.W. Burns”: A commissioned site-specific piece. April 4-May 13.
DePaul University Art Gallery, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave.; 773-325-7863
“Durer to Goya: Three Centuries of Printmaking from the Needles Collection”: Selections from a major American collection (plus a symposium devoted to print connoisseurship, on Oct. 20). Sept. 21-Nov. 21.
“This is Not a Photograph: Rayographs and Other Unique Prints”: A survey of modern and contemporary cameraless photographs. Jan. 18-March 10.
Oakton Community College, 1600 E. Golf Rd., Des Plaines; 847-635-1813
“John Himmelfarb: Inland Romance”: New works combining color, graphic design, text and image. Continuing through Oct. 26.
“Didier Nolet: Recent Paintings”: Landscapes by the French artist who formerly lived in Chicago. Dec. 6-Jan. 25.
“Jiang Xue-Bing: A Man of Four Legends”: The transition from a traditional Chinese artist to a Western modernist. Feb. 7-March 22.
College of Lake County, 19351 W. Washington St., Grayslake; 847-543-2000
“Steve Mendelson: The Song of Armegin”: 23 drawings treating the late artist’s AIDS experience. Continuing through Sept. 30.
“Recent Works”: The 21st annual juried competition. Oct. 5-Nov. 4.
“Paul Sierra: Painted Memories”: Expressionist paintings by the Chicago artist. March 1-April 7.
Evanston Art Center, 2603 Sheridan Rd., Evanston; 847-475-5300
“The Landscape We Make: Terry Evans, David Plowden, Linda Horn, Paul Clark, Joe Llewellyn Davis, and James Iska”: Group photography exhibition specifically responding to the center’s lakeshore setting. Sept. 9-Oct. 23.
“Lost and Found: Collage and Assemblage”: Four-person show of works created from found materials. Nov. 4-Dec. 16.
Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 Cottage Hill Ave., Elmhurst; 630-834-0202
“Spaces Between: Katherine Ace”: Paintings on women’s roles in society. Continuing through Nov. 11.
“Painting Lounge: Anna Kunz”: Paintings correlated to an installation piece. Continuing through Nov. 11.
“Reading Shadows: Gretchen Lee Coles and Eileen Brandt”: Sculptural books and painted ceramics. Continuing through Nov. 11.
“American Landscapes from the Paine Art Center and Arboretum”: 46 paintings and works on paper by Winslow Homer, George Inness and others. Nov. 24-Jan. 6.
Chicago Athenaeum at Schaumburg, 190 S. Roselle Rd., Schaumburg; 847-895-3951
“MIRA: Chicago Artists of Hispanic Heritage”: Works by 11 painters, sculptors and printmakers. Sept. 14-Nov. 11.
“Alejandro Romero: Baroque Expressionism”: Paintings by the Chicago artist. Oct. 6-Nov. 11.
Field Museum, Roosevelt Road at Lake Shore Drive; 312-665-7100
“In Her Hands”: Photographs of craftswomen by Toby Tuttle and Paula Gianturco. Continuing through Jan. 13.
“Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth”: 350 examples of ancient art exploring the life and legend of the last Ptolemaic ruler of Egypt. Oct. 20-March 3.
Museum of Science and Industry, 57th Street at Lake Shore Drive; 773-684-9844
“Black Creativity Juried Art Exhibition”: The annual show of work in a variety of media. January-March.
Chicago Historical Society, Clark Street at North Avenue; 312-642-4600
“Fashion, Flappers ‘n All That Jazz”: Four environments on clothing, accessories, furniture, music and artifacts from the 1920s. Nov. 17-Sept. 29.
DuSable Museum of African American History, 740 E. 56th Pl.; 773-947-0600
“Three Legends: Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence and Samella Lewis”: Works by the 20th Century black American pioneers. December-February.
“Reflections in Black: Smithsonian African American Photography”: A two-part survey, “The First 100 Years, 1842-1942” (March 23-May 5) and “Art and Activism” (May 11-June 23).
Instituto Cervantes of Chicago, 875 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 2940; 312-335-1996
“509 — An American Experience”: Works by Jordi Guell. Continuing through Sept. 18.
“Eduardo de Soignie: Las pinturas del Toro”: Bull paintings. Sept. 21-Oct. 22.
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St.; 312-738-1503
“Dia de Muertos 2001”: Exhibition celebrating the Day of the Dead. Sept. 28-Dec. 9.
“Grande Maestros de Arte Popular”: A festival honoring folk art masters. Jan. 18-May 26.
Swedish American Museum Center, 5211 N. Clark St.; 773-728-8111
“Seeds and Ashes: Windows Toward My Garden”: Art and design by Birgitta Watz. Continuing through Nov. 25.
