A History of the Ancient Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago, Essay Example

Introduction

The art institute of Chicago is well known around the world. In 1866, it was founded as an academy. In order to keep up with the times, this institution advanced fast, becoming a school and an art museum in 1879. The Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) is a well-known organization that provides the general public with a variety of services. It has an art library and an art school in addition to housing artifacts from all around the globe. This institution also provides spaces for art shows. The existence of this institution has shed light on Chicago’s art history.

Museum Background and Visit Experience

One of Chicago’s most significant historical sites is the Art Institute of Chicago. The majority of Chicago pictures that are accessible acknowledge the distinction of this institution. Two enormous sculptures of bronze lions flank the main entrance, which has a beautiful artistic design. Edward created these lions back in 1894 (Alexander). One of the lions is positioned on the southern side of the gate, while the other is positioned on the northern side. The location of this institution sits atop the remains of Chicago’s worst fire ever.

The oldest structure is the main Beaux-Arts edifice, which is situated beyond the front entrance. Several structures may be found within the institution’s gate, and there are 273 total galleries, totaling 52,200 m2, with the Italian facade located in the compound’s middle. This structure hangs forward, so seven bays of wings are visible on each side. The three magnificent Palladian arches are reached straight from the institution’s entrance along a road lined with acacia trees. Fullerton Hall is located on the northern side (Cuno). There is an open court on this building’s main level. Stained glass is used in the domes that make up this structure. A single sitting of 425 persons may be accommodated in the structure. On the southern end of the campus, just across from Fullerton Hall, is where there is the Ryerson Library. In addition, the court is open. The Gunsaulus Hall is another remarkable piece of this institute’s architecture.

It is a two-story bridge that connects the Beaux-Arts structure’s rear to the main train lines. Blackstone Hall is located on the eastern side of the Beaux-Arts structure, while the multiple little galleries separate this large room. The Benjamin F. Ferguson Memorial Building houses the institution’s administrative offices. The Morton Wing is located on the compound’s southern flank, which guarantees symmetry in the Ferguson building. Along with extra exhibition space, it also houses several galleries.

The open-air museum, a film center, and studios utilized for art activities are all housed in the Rubloff Building near the open grounds. The main structure at this institution is the Modern Wing, which was inaugurated in 2009. The Ryan Education Center is also located there, and most rooms can utilize sunlight because of the design’s cutting-edge green technology. A lovely garden called the Stanley McCormick Memorial Court can be seen on the building’s northern flank (Moir and Manfredi). The Great Lakes fountain is located on the southern side. Inside the facility’s gates, there are other gardens and landscapes.

Background Material

In Grand Park in Chicago, Illinois, the AIC is situated. The Chicago Academy of Design was founded in 1866. The patron’s gifts and the members’ fees were paid for this academy. The academy provided lessons and exhibitions of artwork. By 1870, this group had expanded to the point that it could afford to buy its own home. This coincided with an increase in art program courses. The new structure was destroyed by fire in 1971, which left the organization with severe financial issues (Alexander). The senior management established a board of trustees in 1878 to stabilize the company. The organization is now called “The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts.” The group of artists no longer had control over the institution; instead, city elites took over. The Art Institute of Chicago, led by a president, was given a new name. Businesspeople from the cities served as this institution’s primary financiers.

The Ferguson Building, designed by Burgee, Root, and Holabird in 1958, is a further significant building. In 1962, the Metz, Shaw & Assoc.-designed Morton Wing was also included in the architectural framework of the institutions. The buildings of the universities include the School of the Art Institute and Columbus Drive in 1977. These buildings were constructed by Skidmore, Merrill, and Owings. Beeby, Babka, and Hammond were responsible for the 1988 Ada Rice and Daniel F. Building design. It was another crucial institution-wide framework (Cuno). The most recent additions to the institution’s extra infrastructure are two new buildings, Fullerton Hall Restoration and the Modern Wing, completed in 2001 and 2009.

About the artist; Bartolomeo Manfredi

Manfredi was born near Cremona in Ostiano. Caravaggio said that a certain Bartolomeo Cristofori, convicted of disseminating scurrilous writings targeting Caravaggio’s hated competitor Baglione, had been a servant of his during his illustrious libel trial in 1603, may have been a student of his in Rome. Bartolomeo Manfredi, known to art history for his heightened chiaroscuro and stress on realism, was undoubtedly a close follower of Caravaggio’s avant-garde style. He also had a talent for expressing stories through expression and body language.

I selected the artist because of his significant influence on the next generation of painters, notably in Rome and Naples. Furthermore, among these Caravaggisti (Caravaggio’s followers), Manfredi has had the most impact on passing on the artist’s heritage to succeeding generations, notably with artists from France and the Netherlands who immigrated to Italy. A few of the forty or so paintings currently credited to Manfredi were first thought to be by Caravaggio, and there are no known, signed works by him (Moir and Manfredi). The gradual detachment of Caravaggio from Manfredi has shown that it was Manfredi, not his master, who had the most significant influence on the second generation of Caravaggisti in terms of popularizing low-life genre painting.

Critical Analysis Artwork; Bartolomeo Manfred Painting Cupid Chastised

Bartolomeo Manfredi preferred to show ordinary people in his scenes from the Bible and Greek and Roman mythology, following the lead of the revolutionary painter Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in the early seventeenth century. Manfredi and a whole generation of European painters had learned from Caravaggio that such high concepts might be translated into the experiences of ordinary people. These painters could give their tales a strong sense of immediacy and intensity by using dramatic lighting and placing the action right in front of the audience.

Cupid Chastised portrays a scene of intense drama: Because Cupid’s relationship with Venus, the goddess of love, exposed him to the scorn and anger of the other gods, Mars, the god of war, defeats Cupid. Venus implores him to stop but in vain. The three figures are powerfully lighted from the left amid the darkness, enhancing the composition’s dynamic and intensity. The simple physicality of the figures conveys the powerful discord of the scene: the crouching Venus, who’s broadly realized face deviates from the classical ideal; the strong Mars, whose musculature and brilliant red drapery seem to pulsate with fury; and Cupid, whose bare flesh and recumbent position make him particularly vulnerable (Moir and Manfredi). The narrative, although a tale of home unrest on one level, also serves as a metaphor for the ongoing struggle between love and war.

Critical Analysis Artwork Subjective Response

I have no idea what inspired Bartolomeo Manfredi to create “Cupid Chastised,” which is shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, in 1613. But I have a feeling that his motivations weren’t fully pure. Under the watchful eye of the pope, a Borghese, and the encircling arms of the Catholic Church, he created the picture in Rome. It depicts Cupid, also known as Eros or Amor, being “chastised” (really viciously beaten) by Mars, the god of war, for getting Mars to fall in love with Venus and causing the other gods to mock and resent him for it. Venus watches as two fleeing doves of peace are exiled. Cupid, who is often a supporting character or just a story device, may represent both romantic love and spiritual aspiration (Moir and Manfredi). However, when he was blinded, as he was in this instance, he represented arbitrariness and unpredictable events, as well as darkness and bad luck.

So here is my own, wholly contemporary reading of the passage: The subject of Manfredi’s painting is male humiliation. It shows Mars in the wake of an unexpected period of weakness. This refers to a condition of dishonor in martial, masculine standards. Never should a god of battle display vulnerability by falling in love. Men seek quick fixes when they feel humiliated (often in complicated ways). The quickest way to get rid of the embarrassment is to use violence against other people. Mars was susceptible to sensual stimuli because of Cupid and his little love darts (Rondeau). Therefore, Cupid has to pay a price. An attempt to make the picture seem “current” may be suggested by a modern, psychological interpretation. However, Manfredi’s presentation of the matter is so compelling and vivid that it practically begs for such interpretations.

Manfredi (1582–1622) arrived in Rome after being born close to Mantua, where he rapidly became enamored with Caravaggio (1571–1610). As revolutionary as the impressionist movement of the late 19th century was Caravaggio’s reform of the art of painting. Tenebrism is the term used to describe the aesthetic he produced, which included dramatic pockets of light erupting from surrounding darkness (from the Italian tenebroso, meaning dark, gloomy, and mysterious). Caravaggio raised the intensity of visual narrative to a previously unheard-of level by fusing tenebrism with real-life subjects, enhanced realism, and cramped, chaotic locations.

Adolescent homeless kids served as models for several of Caravaggio’s paintings as he attempted to combine spiritual immediacy with accessible, intensely dirty reality. He accomplished this in the painting “Amor Vincit Omnia,” which adopted the early Renaissance norm of showing Cupid as a thin youngster rather than a plump child (Rondeau). When the Art Institute of Chicago purchased “Cupid Chastised” in 1947, the institution mistakenly assumed it was by Caravaggio, despite the fact that the eminent art historian Roberto Longhi had previously credited Manfredi with creating it. They immediately changed their mind.

Works Cited

Alexander, Karen. “A History of the Ancient Art Collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, 1994, p. 6.

Cuno, James B. Master Paintings in the Art Institute of Chicago. Art Inst of Chicago, 2009.

Moir, Alfred, and Bartolomeo Manfredi. “An Examination of Bartolomeo Manfredi’s “Cupid Chastised”.” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, vol. 11, no. 2, 1985, p. 156.

Rondeau, James. Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection. Yale UP, 2017.