Art Institute of Chicago
December 17, 2009
Return to Chicago IndexAll Photographs Copyright © 2009-2011 by Robert E Pence My niece, Carrie, had suggested that we should take a day trip to Chicago to visit the Art Institute. She was looking forward to seeing Italian
architect Renzo Piano's new Modern Wing, and I hadn't been inside the building in many years. We caught South Shore train #116 at Michigan
City's Carroll Avenue stop and detrained at Van Buren Station. First stop was the Corner Bakery in the Santa Fe building, for coffee for me and hot chocolate for Carrie, followed by a visit to the Chicago
Archicenter model in the atrium.
Art Institute admission is $18 for adults and $12 for Seniors, and free on Thursdays 5pm - 8pm. The free checkroom is a great convenience whendealing with winter coats, backpacks, etc. Cameras are allowed, but in some of the temporary exhibits photography isn't. Tripods and flash are
prohibited. I took several photos of the building interior and its vistas, but none of the exhibits. Here are a few that I liked.
I had anticipated a shot from the section of the building that overlooks the approaches to Millennium Park Station,and was at first disappointed to see that the sunshades were down. I decided to see what would happen, though,
and I like the result. The shades are of an open weave, and create an interesting canvas-like texture.
One gallery off the Griffin Court contained a piece that consisted of a large array of fluorescent tubesarranged around a u-shaped matrix. It was intensely bright, and the reflections were inescapable in
some of my attempts to photograph through the court's large expanses of glass. You can see the light
from the display spilling into the corridor on the left.
