Monday, October 05, 2009

Impressionism..Chicago style..anyone?...

Haa..the art above is one of Picasso's (slightly vulgar painting..to some perhaps) found at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Yes, one of the program to loosen up the brain after all those heavy technical, automotive engineering stuff meetings..was a visit to the famous, 'must visit', art museum or the art institute of chicago, located next to the millennium park. I won't bore you with the details. You can always google it bah! hehehe.
It houses a great collection of art pieces. The overwhelming generosity of enthusiastic collectors like Mrs Bertha Honore' Palmer, one of Chicago's most pioneering collector and wife of noted hotelier Potter Palmer, has brought many works into the Art Institute's collection. Mrs Palmer was dedicated to collecting the most innovative art of her time, and her immense generosity allowed many Impressionist works to enter the AIC in 1922. One should not miss dropping by, when in Chicago, to see for oneself, a few of her exceptional gifts...
Every year, AIC host over 30 exhibitions and over 1,400 events and programs. From the early 1920s to early 1960s, German Shepherds helped to guard the collection. One of the most beloved was named Utz von Storfels. Some say his spirit still comes out at night. AIC has 260,000+ objects in their collection. The oldest part of the current museum complex was opened in 1893 in conjunction with the World's Columbian Exposition, to host the World's Congress of Religions. Thousands of Hindus still visit Fullerton Hall, the site where the Hindu Missionary Swami Vivekananda gave his speeches. Their largest painting is George o' Keefe's Sky Above Clouds IV.
AIC played a role in determining whether Chicago should open an aquarium. An Art Institute display of 85+ varieties of fish drew more than 14,000 people on March 15, 1916, leading the Chicago Daily Tribune to declare that "if attendance at the Art Institute yesterday is any indication, Chicago wants a permanent aquarium."
AIC holds the attendance record for any art exhibition in the USA, with 1, 538, 103 for the Century of Progress show in 1933.
So there you are...Chicago is the place for fine arts, architecture, construction, engineering, maritime studies (freshwater lake), shipping, management, conservation, biodiversity. It has a multicultural setting. Despite its early mob lifestyle environment (like you see in the movies)...it is really a great (windy) city..too bad I couldn't get hold of Oprah Winprey..hehe. Obama chose it as his home base, but unfortunately..even by his personal presence in Copenhagen recently, he (Obama, the President of the United States of America) failed in his bid to get Chicago to host the Olympics in 2016...'wot a pity 'as the Brit would have said it...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

ish ish ish....bab makan no.1

Anonymous said...

You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view

Anonymous said...

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