Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

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This article is about Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. For other Museums named Museum of Contemporary Art, see Museum of Contemporary Art.
Museum of Contemporary Art
Established 1967
(current location since 1996)
Location 220 East Chicago Avenue,
Chicago, Illinois 60611-2643
United States
Director Outgoing Robert Fitzpatrick; Incoming Madeleine Grynsztejn
Website www.mcachicago.org

The Museum of Contemporary Art, often abbreviated to MCA, is a contemporary art museum near Water Tower Place in downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The current location at 220 East Chicago Avenue is in the Streeterville neighborhood of the Near North Side community area.

Contents

[edit] History

The Museum of Contemporary Art was founded in 1967 in its former location at 237 East Ontario. The first director of the MCA was Jan van der Marck. Initially, the museum was conceived primarily as a space for temporary exhibitions, in the German Kunsthalle model. However, in 1974, the museum began acquiring a permanent collection of contemporary art objects created after 1945.[1]

[edit] Exhibitions

[edit] Past

In its first year of operation, the museum hosted two exhibitions, "Pictures To Be Read/Poetry To Be Seen" and "Claes Oldenburg: Projects for Monuments." In 1969, the museum served as the site for Christo's first building wrap in the United States.[2][3] It was wrapped in over 8,000 square feet (700 m²) of tarpaulin. The following year it hosted one-person shows for Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol.

Stairwell in the new museum building, designed by Josef Paul Kleihues.
Stairwell in the new museum building, designed by Josef Paul Kleihues.

The MCA has also played host to the first American and solo exhibitions of prominent artists. It hosted the first U.S. exhibitions of Frida Kahlo in 1978[1] and Antoni Tapies in 1977.[4] Other highlights of its history include the first solo museum shows of Dan Flavin,[5] in 1967,[4] and Jeff Koons,[6] in 1988.[4] In 1989, the MCA hosted Robert Mapplethorpe, The Perfect Moment, a traveling exhibition put together by the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. This exhibition drew the most visitors in the institution's history.[7]

[edit] Recent

The MCA also plays host to more recently active artists. The museum features a monthly 12 x 12: New Artists/New Work exhibition series, featuring up-and-coming Chicago artists. In 2006, the MCA was the only American museum to host Bruce Mau's Massive Change exhibit, concerning the social, economic and political effects of design. Other recent exhibits have featured photographers Catherine Opie and Wolfgang Tillmans as well as Chicago-based cartoonist Chris Ware.

[edit] New structure

1st Cavalry Illinois National Guard new armory building
from right (1919)
from right (1919)
from left (1919)
from left (1919)

Originally, the museum had been located in a small space at 237 East Ontario Street that had originally been built as a bakery and for a time had served as the corporate offices of Playboy Enterprises.[7] Throughout its history, the MCA expanded into adjacent buildings to increase gallery space. In 1977, following a fund raising drive for its 10th anniversary, a three-story neighboring townhouse was purchased, renovated and connected to the museum.[7]

In 1996, the MCA acquired its current site at 220 East Chicago Avenue which was the site of a former National Guard Armory between Lake Michigan and Michigan Avenue from 1907 until it was demolished in 1993 to make way for the MCA.[8] The new limestone and aluminum structure was designed by Berlin architect Josef Paul Kleihues. The new building contains 45,000 square feet (4,200 m²) of gallery space (seven times the space of the old museum), an auditorium, and a sculpture garden.[1] The MCA building was Kliehues' first American structure.

[edit] Collection

Polychrome and Horizontal Bluebird, 1991
Polychrome and Horizontal Bluebird, 1991
In Memory of My Feelings - Frank O'Hara, 1995
In Memory of My Feelings - Frank O'Hara, 1995

Today, the museum's collection consists of 2,345 objects, as well as about 2,500 artist's books.[9] The collection includes work by artists from Lee Bontecou to Robert Smithson.

Other notable works in the museum's collection include:

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Kirshner, Judith Russi. Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  2. ^ Museum of Contemporary Art, Wrapped
  3. ^ Bourdon, David. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Wrapped. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  4. ^ a b c History of the MCA. Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved on 2007-02-06.
  5. ^ His first solo show was at the Judson Gallery, New York, in 1961. (http://www.diacenter.org/exhibs_b/flavin/)
  6. ^ His first solo exhibition was a 1980 window installation at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York
  7. ^ a b c Museum of Contemporary Art Website. History of the MCA. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  8. ^ Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago, p. 39. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
  9. ^ Museum of Contemporary Art Website. MCA Collection Highlights. Retrieved on 2006-12-21.
  10. ^ Calder, Alexander. Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  11. ^ Close, Chuck. Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  12. ^ Johns, Jasper. Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.
  13. ^ Bacon, Francis. Museum of Contemporary Art. Retrieved on 2007-02-05.

[edit] External links

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