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Mother and Child, 1921 The Old Guitarist, 1903–1904 that reveal every "ism" the artist explored in his long career. Featuring 250 works (including loans from Susan and Lewis Manilow, Nancy and Steve Crown, and Sylvia Neil and Daniel Fischel), "Picasso and Chicago" is a rich review of the artist's methods, concerns, and subject matter. "In addition," notes D'Alessandro, "our ancient art galleries will highlight Greek pottery and the myth of Dionysius, which inspired him in the 1920s. The African art department will highlight objects owned by the French avantgarde that mimic the kinds of pieces and the interests Picasso had when he began to collect African art. The library is doing an illustrated book presentation. So we're hoping people will have a number of different experiences and a number of ways into understanding Picasso and his relationship with our collection and the city itself." Arguably, The Old Guitarist is the Picasso most Art Institute visitors remember. Along with Georges Seurat's A Sunday on La Grand Jatte, Edward Hopper's Nighthawks, and Grant Wood's American Gothic, it is one of the pictures people come to the museum specifically to see. But with "Picasso and Chicago," our appreciation of how thoroughly the museum and its supporters embraced the artist is heightened. Even D'Alessandro, after 14 years at the Art Institute, has learned a thing or two. "One of our works—a very beautiful drawing of an old woman—was shown in Picasso's first US exhibit, at Alfred Stieglitz's New York gallery in 1911. It was the image people first saw when they walked in. All these years I've loved this drawing, and I didn't know it was the first Picasso people saw in the US. What an overwhelming and, at the same time, quiet revelation." "Picasso and Chicago" is showing February 20 through May 12 at the Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave., 312-443-3600; artic.edu MA PICASSO'S CLUB When others were still skeptics, the Arts Club of Chicago championed the groundbreaking artist. A PRIVATE INSTITUTION with a public mission, the Arts Club of Chicago was founded in 1916 to promote the cause of modern art. Since then, the club has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to presenting bold artists, from Cézanne to Chris Ofili—but perhaps no artist has been as welcome as Picasso. From 1918 until 1931, under the direction of president Rue Winterbotham Carpenter, the club afforded the Spanish artist five solo shows and included his work in five group shows. In the years that followed, Picasso's work appeared in more than a dozen exhibitions, including a loan from the collection of automobile magnate Walter P. Chrysler. In 1955, the club mounted "An Exhibition of Cubism" on the 40th anniversary of the Arts Club of Chicago, which included 15 works by Picasso, a number of which came from Chicago collections. One of the club's most noteworthy Picasso events occurred in 1939, when it displayed Guernica, his harrowing response to the German bombing of a Basque town during the Spanish Civil War. Even then, decades after his work was first seen in the city, Chicago Daily Tribune critic Eleanor Jewett complained, "It is a product of a juvenile brain sick from an overdose of fairy stories." MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM 082-087_MA_FEAT_Picasso_Winter13.indd 87 87 1/2/13 12:24 PM