Preface and Acknowledgments

Barter, Judith A.

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Preface and Acknowledgments

Judith A. Barter

Window on the West: Chicago and the Art of the New Frontier 1890–1940

Preface and Acknowledgments

Author

Judith A. Barter

PublisherArt Institute of Chicago

https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00176.003

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-15743

Preface and Acknowledgments

A curator’s greatest pleasure derives from working with the museum’s permanent collection. This exhibition and book focus on one small section of the truly great holdings of a venerable institution—The Art Institute of Chicago. The permanent collection, the heart of any museum, is organic in nature, always changing, growing, and being reinterpreted. This show’s theme provided a wonderful opportunity to root around in storage and become reacquainted with great works of art, many of which have not been on public view for decades.

As rewarding as new research on the collection can be, the opportunity to cross departmental lines and work with colleagues is equally so. Five curatorial departments contributed their objects and expertise to this effort, their staffs cooperating without reservation or qualification. I would like to thank Suzanne McCullagh, Martha Tedeschi, Barbara Hinde, Harriet Stratis, Chris O’Shea, and Kristi Dahl in the Department of Prints and Drawings for their generous loans and the preparation of so many fine works on paper. Richard Townsend, Head of the Department of Amerindian Art, together with Ray Ramirez and Leah Bowe, contributed their knowledge to the manuscript and gave advice in the selection of loans from their collection. Father Peter J. Powell lent generously from his foundation’s collection of Native American objects on long-term loan to the Art Institute. Christa Thurman, Head of the Department of Textiles, and her staff contributed important objects from their holdings. Daniel Schulman in the Department of Modern and Contemporary Art facilitated the transfer of much of the post-1900 western sculpture to the Department of American Arts, and lent other important paintings and sculpture. Bruce Boucher, Curator of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, shared his knowledge and ideas in important ways. Colin Westerbeck in the Photography Department put together a wonderful representation of western photography from the permanent collection to augment the exhibition. Suzanne Schnepp, objects conservator, gave tremendous time and effort to the repatination and repair of MacNeil’s Sun Vow, and her colleagues Barbara Hall and Emily Dunn made sure our sculpture looks its best. Faye Wrubel, painting conservator, beautifully cleaned and restored paintings covered with old, yellowed varnish and brought them back to life.

Two wonderful colleagues in my own department, who have gone on to other locales and challenges, made this project possible. Andrew J. Walker, formerly Associate Curator of American Painting and Sculpture, did extensive research on Hermon Atkins MacNeil and his Chicago circle, which he presented at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Sculpture Symposium in January 2002 and which informs part of chapter 1. He also coordinated research on the principal artists discussed in chapters 2 and 4, and brought the Dulah Evans Krehbiel photograph collection to the Art Institute Archives. Jennifer Downs, formerly Assistant Curator of American Decorative Arts, enthusiastically researched objects selected for the exhibition and prepared the largest share of the glossary and the bibliography. Assistant Curator of American Painting and Sculpture Sarah Kelly provided research support, formulated the checklist, patiently read the manuscript, and helped to plan the physical layout of the exhibition. The department depends on many fine graduate student interns for research assistance. Those who contributed to this project over the last three years include Mark Cunningham, Elizabeth Darocha, Astrid Lavie, Monica Obniski, and Carrie Schloss. Preparator Chris Fitzgerald helped with layout and installation; Linda Pryka stoically kept distractions away from writing time.

In the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Jack Perry Brown and his fine staff provided immeasurable research support. I particularly thank Peter Blank, Susan Perry, and archivist Bart Ryckbosch, who made important photographs and manuscripts available. In the Publications Department, Executive Director Susan F. Rossen supported the book from the beginning. Britt Salvesen’s finely honed editorial skills and terrific knowledge of this period enhanced this book immeasurably. She joined the project enthusiastically, serving not just as editor, but as a sounding board and as another set of trained curatorial eyes. Associate Director of Publications Amanda Freymann supervised the book’s production, bringing together the wonderful design ideas of Joan Sommers, excellent color separations from ProGraphics, and high-quality printing of Butler and Tanner. Shaun Manning and Annie Feldmeier helped with the photo research and editing. The Imaging Department, under Executive Director Alan Newman, provided expert object photography for this book. Special thanks go to Tiffany Calvert, Matthew Cook, Robert Hashimoto, Eva Marie Panek, and Greg Williams. Donna Forrest cheerfully supplied masses of photocopies. In the Graphics Department, Executive Director Lyn DelliQuadri and Joe Cochand provided exhibition design expertise, labels, wall texts, and myriad other design-related advice. The Department of Museum Education, through the efforts of David Stark and Clare Kunny, devised programming for the general public, school groups, and teachers. The Registrar’s office, Mary Solt, Executive Director, Martha Sharma, and Therese Peskowits, provided extraordinary help in organizing loans and photography. Barbara Scharres spearheaded related programs at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The museum guards watched me trudge from storeroom to gallery and back at least a million times. There was always a smile and encouragement, particularly from Malvina Gary and Janet Parker.

Our many Chicago institutional lenders extended their collegiality from beginning to end. At the Newberry Library, I would like to thank James Grossman, Mary Wyly, Susan Summerfield, Martha Briggs, and John Aubrey. At the Field Museum, a great debt of thanks is owed to Dorren Martin-Ross and Ben Williams for their interest in the preservation of art collections owned by the museum, and to archivist Armand Esai for access to primary source material. I thank Julie Katz and Joel Thompson at the Chicago Historical Society; Marianne Richter at the Union League Club; Elizabeth Kennedy at the Terra Museum of American Art; William Getzoff of the Cliff Dwellers Club; and the Board of Education of the City of Chicago, represented by Kathleen Bernhardt. From farther afield, important loans came from the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Frazier Historical Arms Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, through the good offices of Walter Karcheski, Jr.; the Museum of Fine Arts, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe; Ellery Kurtz of Spanierman Galleries, LLC, New York; and Tiffany & Co., New York. I am especially grateful to the private collectors who allowed us to share their treasures with Art Institute visitors.

Additional research assistance was provided by Richard Rudisill and Arthur Olivas at the photography archives of the Palace of the Governors, Museum of New Mexico, Santa Fe. Mr. Rudisill shared his wealth of knowledge about the photo collection and in particular the photographs of Carter H. Harrison, Jr. Laura Foster of the Frederic Remington Museum provided important diary information. Additional thanks go to Suzanne Burns, Jill Keehner, and Paul Mix. My debt to the work of other scholars is enormous, and only partially reflected in the bibliography. Here, I would like to single out the research of Janis Conner and Joel Rosenkranz, Marion Copeland, Alice Duncan, Emily Neff, and Dean Porter.

This book and exhibition could not have been realized without superlative local support. The Elizabeth Morse Charitable Trust and the Oscar G. and Elsa S. Mayer Family Foundation, both headquartered in Chicago, contributed generously to tell this local story. Martha Simpson, whose father loved both Chicago and the West, also supported this project. I owe a great debt to the efforts of Lisa Key, Director of Foundation and Corporate Relations, for her hard work in securing financial partnerships.

Minds and hearts often work in curious ways. My own ties to the Midwest are strong and hereditary. My father’s parents came from Wisconsin farm families. In 1896, at age sixteen, my grandmother traveled (with her high-school chum) to the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona. There she bought pots and baskets, treasures that I inherited while still a child. From my father, I learned about my grandfather’s career as a train engineer on the Chicago and Northwestern Railway and the Saturdays my dad spent riding in the train cab. My mother’s parents were first-generation immigrants. My grandmother ran away from her Irish home at sixteen, boarded a ship to America, and finally came to Chicago. She never saw her family again. She married an Englishman (one of their first dates was to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893) and they bought a farm in Peotone, Illinois, where they regularly turned up Indian arrowheads during spring plowing. Their pre-fabricated balloon frame house, made in the sawmills of the West, was the house where my parents were married. For these young, poor, but hopeful people, the “West” was the land of opportunity. Their children left the farm for their own beacon of opportunity, Chicago. My parents both believed profoundly in the educative value of travel. Our first trip west from Chicago was on the Zephyr, in 1955. Thus, my parents, like so many of the individuals described in this book, linked Chicago with the West, and saw this geographic region as the locus of economic opportunity, power, growth, and hope. Their spirit of exploration typified American values. Their hard work enabled and inspired their child to write about that time. I dedicate this book about Chicago and the West to the memories of my parents and my grandparents—and to all who went west looking for new opportunity and better lives.

Judith A. Barter

FIELD-MCCORMICK CURATOR OF AMERICAN ARTS

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