We love spending our Date Day at the Art Institute of Chicago!  There is always something new and we never tire of seeing our personal favorites over and over again.  This time, we headed to Chicago on a chilly November morning.  There was a Rodin exhibit that we both wanted to see, a quilt exhibit that Theresa had her heart set on and a series of paintings by M. F. Husain that Tom thought sounded interesting.

Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test.

We are members of the Institute, so can skip the entry lines by showing our membership card on one of our iPhones.  Unfortunately, the same is not true of the coat check line, so we decided to carry our coats as the line was quite long.

Our first stop was supposed to be the Rodin exhibit.  Being frequent visitors, we headed to Regenstein Hall, where special exhibits are usually found.  We got there, and to our surprise, were treated to Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test.  The exhibit was a fascinating, if a little depressing, examination of Soviet revolutionary principles of the early 1900’s.  It was clear the purpose of the artwork, models and advertising materials were to present the Soviet communist ideal in the best light to citizens of the time.  Putting aside our political beliefs for a while, we enjoyed the exhibit very much.

After leaving Russia, we spent a little time revisiting some of our favorite modern American artists.  We saw works by Georgia O’Keeffe, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler (with the famous mom) and Winslow Homer; just to name a few.  We probably could have spent hours in this section of the Institute but is was finally time to find Rodin.

Rodin

Using the Art Institute app on our phones, we pulled up a map of the museum, found the Rodin exhibit and promptly spent 20 minutes trying to find our way there (it should have been a 5-minute walk).  The app is not bad, but it needs some work to better understand where you are in the building and properly route you to where you want to go.  For now, we would recommend the printed map at the entrance or asking one of the many helpful staff you can find walking around.

We finally found Rodin and were initially a little disappointed to see that the exhibit was one smallish room.  It turned out, however, to be one jam packed room of Rodin’s works including; sculptures, drawing, photos and prints.  It was the first Rodin exhibit at the Art Institute since 1923 and was put together to mark centenary of his death in 1917.  We learned a lot about Rodin, but the most interesting fact was that the original The Thinker was only 27” tall.

After Rodin, we headed to see Quilts as Souvenirs.  This exhibit features a series of 27 quilts, mainly from the US, that depict events, family remembrances or just reminders of places and ideas.  The quilts were clearly made with loving hands and respect for tradition and were a surprising throwback to simpler times.

Usually when we go to the Art Institute we see the new exhibits together and then split up in 45-minute increments to explore our personal favorites and compare notes.  This time we did not do this as we had two more exhibits to see together.  The first was the relatively new Deering Family Galleries of Medieval and Renaissance Art, Arms, and Armor.  Wow!  If you have any interest at all in seeing jewelry, art, arms and armor from the 1200’s to the 1600’s this is your place in Chicago (and perhaps the Midwest / US) to see it.  Even if this is not your personal area of interest, it is a don’t miss section of the Institute.

M. F. Husain

We finished our visit with a viewing the of the M. F. Husain paintings.  This impressive series of eight triptychs is a great display of the works of Maqbool Fida Husain, India’s most important 20^th-century artist.  Each triptych displays a different aspect of Indian life but could be more powerful if displayed together.  Unfortunately, the eight pieces are dispersed across the Institutes five Asian art galleries and it takes a bit of focus to see them without distraction.  With that said, they are worth finding.

After spending two and a half hours raising our architectural and cultural awareness, it was time to eat.  We left the Institute without a destination in mind – as usual.  Finding a brisk wind and dropping temperature we decided to stay close to the museum and our parking lot.  At first, we decided to head to one of our “usual” spots.  As we headed down Adams St. the wind got a little worse and we saw the Russia Team Time sign.  We’ve walked past this restaurant many times, but never even thought to go inside.  It seemed campy and perhaps a rip-off of NYC’s Russian Tea Room.  With the weather getting worse, we decided, what the heck, let’s try it.