Past Exhibitions
The Time Is Now! Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side, 1960–1980
September 13, 2018–December 30, 2018
During the 1960s and 1970s, Chicago was shaped by art and ideas produced and circulated on the South Side.
Tang Chang: The Painting that is Painted with Poetry is Profoundly Beautiful
May 8–August 5, 2018
Tang Chang's first solo exhibition outside of Thailand traces the development of his singular style of gestural abstraction and his eventual rejection of painting in favor of “poetry-drawings.”
Expanding Narratives: The Figure and the Ground
April 24–December 16, 2018
Expanding Narratives uses the formal relationship between the figure and the ground in art history as a conceptual springboard into discussions around visual representation, the museum space, and the role of the Smart Museum’s collection in fostering the exchange of diverse perspectives.
Expanding Narratives: Theme and Variations—The Multiple Sorceries of Félix Buhot
April 24 to July 22, 2018
As part of Expanding Narratives, this presentation explores how printmaker Félix Buhot dissolved classic distinctions between figure and ground in ways that challenge the limits of the etching medium.
Into the City: Art in Chicago
April 3–July 22, 2018
Presented in connection with a University of Chicago course, this exhibition samples a selection of themes that have defined artmaking in Chicago.
Art in Seventeenth-Century France
April 3–July 22, 2018
This intimate display serves as primary source material for an Art History course and includes the entirety of Jacques Callot’s portfolio The Large Miseries of War.
The History of Perception
January 9 to April 22, 2018
This exhibition explores questions of perception and bodily sensation in connection to a course offered through the University of Chicago.
Resurgence and Innovation: Artists’ Inspiration in Nineteenth-Century France
December 12, 2017 to March 18, 2018
Organized by several UChicago students, this exhibition explores the eclectic range of sources and precedents that served as inspiration for nineteenth-century artists in France.
Selections from a History of Modernism
December 12, 2017 to March 18, 2018
This exhibition of abstract paintings and works on paper from the 1940s and 1950s serves as a primary source for a University of Chicago Art History course.
Revolution Every Day
September 14, 2017–January 28, 2018
Presented on the centenary of the 1917 Russian Revolution, this exhibition immerses visitors in the distinct textures and speeds of everyday life that arose—and have lingered stubbornly—in the wake of revolutionary upheaval.