Smart Museum of Art

Robert Arneson's Hawk (1985) waiting to be mounted on its camouflaged pedestal, with works by Chicago Imagist and self-taught artists in the background. Opens soon.

Bottom: George Inness The Coming Shower, 1892, Oil on canvas. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, The Harold H. Swift Bequest, 1962, 1978.202.

Can you see the gestural nod to early 20th century expressionism in this section? 

Check it out for an inside look at events, installations, and more! 

The Land Beneath Our Feet: American Art at the Smart exhibition closes on September 1. One week remains to explore the American cultural and historical landscape through works from Childe Hassam, George Inness, John Abbott McNeill Whistler, Timothy H. O'Sullivan, and many more. 

Through September 1 you can see these works by Walt Kuhn, Andreas Feininger, William Merritt Chase, Manierre Dawson, and many other great American artists in The Land Beneath Our Feet Exhibition.

  Image: Inspiration for USSA 2012: Wellness Center: Idyllic—affair of the heart. Photo taken by the artist. 

Childe Hassam, House on Main Street, East Hampton, 22 April 1922, Etching and drypoint on wove paper. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Gift of Mrs. Irene Schultz, 1976.55.

In 1861, American photographer Mathew Brady began his famous project to photograph the Civil War as it happened. Outfitting teams of photographers with mobile darkrooms that could be brought close to the conflict, Brady and his colleagues were able to photograph scenes from all phases of the war.

Born in Indiana, William Merritt Chase attended New York’s National Academy of Design and later studied in Munich, where at least 275 American art students are documented between 1870 and 1885.  The sitter in this portrait is thought to be one of Chase’s fellow students, possibly John White Alexander.  The dark palette and choice of a wooden support show Chase’s adoption of old master painting techniques, which were taught along with more experimental approaches at the Munich Academy in those years.  Later, his palette lightened as he absorbed the examples of James McNeill Whistler and the Impressionists.  A renowned teacher, Chase launched the careers of a whole generation of American artists from his posts at the Art Students League, the Brooklyn Art Association, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Art Institute of Chicago.  He also founded what is now the Parsons School of Design in New York.  He was very well liked by his students: one of them, Georgia O’Keeffe, recalled “something fresh and energetic and fierce and exacting about him that made him fun.” 

The following year, with encouragement from Jane Addams of Hull House, she helped with the founding of the University of Chicago Settlement, an initiative that sought to bring about municipal reform through a combination of idealism and practical field work.  This portrait, showing Reynolds in her academic robes, was commissioned by friends of the University and may have been painted during one of Chase’s visits to Chicago.