Virtual Visits: The Art Institute of Chicago

1930 Illinois Central travel poster.

The Art Institute of Chicago is one of the largest and renowned art museums in the United States. Among its collection are some of the most famous paintings in the world. And no trip there is complete without seeing, George Seurat’s A Sunday of La Grande Jatte (1884-1886),

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, by George Seurat, from the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

American Gothic, the 1930 painting by Grant Wood,

Grant Wood's 1930 painting, American Gothic, now part of the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

and a personal favorite, the 1942 painting Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper.

The 1942 painting Nighthawks, by Edward Hopper.

Former members of the Chicago Academy of Design founded The Chicago Academy of Fine Arts in 1879. That same year they acquired the assets of the Academy of Design at a bankruptcy auction. Changing their name to The Art Institute of Chicago in 1882 they also moved to a building on Michigan Avenue. Needing more space the institute built a new impressive building on the lot directly to the south in 1887. But with the coming of the Columbian Exposition in 1893, the art institute decided on a new home in Grant Park along Michigan Avenue. Constructed for the fair the Art Institute moved to their new and permanent home on October 31, 1893.

The 1893 building for the Art Institute of Chicago.

Now that we’ve seen some highlights, let’s start our virtual visit. I have to say that the Art Institute has one of the most user friendly websites of any museum. Here is the homepage where your “visit” begins at artic.edu.

Homepage for the Art Institute of Chicago.

Once here, click the magnifying glass in the upper right. That will take you to this window.

The search page.

In the light gray box, I used Art Deco as my keyword search term. And here were my results.

The results of the Art Deco keyword search.

From here, scroll down to the middle of the page to see the collection items.

Art Deco Collection items.

As you can see, this search brought up a total of nearly 35,000 items. If this is too daunting a number (and not all of these are Deco items, this is bringing up any item with the words Art and Deco). There are ways to ratchet this search down. Click on “See all 34846 artworks”.

Using the filters to ratchet down the number of items in the search.

That will bring you to this window. On the left side of the screen there are filters to help refine the search. I keep “SORT” on relevance and move “DATE” to begin at 1900. Then click “OK”.

Results after refining the search using the built in filters.

This brought the search down to a reasonable 13,188 items. Now you can spend the next few hours enjoying some amazing Art Deco items and art works. Here are some of the items that caught Chris and my eyes.

Chris’s Picks

Protodeco Danish vase by Effie Hegermann-Lindencrone.

KEM Weber arm chair (1928/1929) for the Grand Rapids Chair Company.

Deer and Hinds vase, 1924.

Limoges vase, circa 1930.

1925 Les Fontaines plate by Johnson Brothers.

Anthony’s Picks

Carpet, made in France, circa 1925.

Diana the Huntress, wall panel.

Skycraper Cabinet designed by Paul Frankl, 1927.

Table Lamp by Walter von Nessen, 1930.

Casino Ware Tureen, 1932-1934.

And collection item we both picked

Russel Wright spun aluminum and cork cocktail set, 1930.

These are only a very few of the many Art Deco items in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection. Chicago is a city that Chris and I have only visited briefly once. It is full of Art Deco treasures, so I know we will be Driving for Deco there once the pandemic is no longer with us.

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

Fiesta 201: Fiesta Kitchen Kraft Part Two: An Overview

Fiesta Kitchen Kraft label.

Fiesta Kitchen Kraft label. Image from thepotterypapers.blogspot.com

CLICK HERE FOR PART ONE

Spring, 1938

Homer Laughlin put Fiesta Kitchen Kraft into production in the winter of 1938 and by early spring it is on the store shelves. The advertising campaign paired the new line with Homer Laughlin’s best selling product, Fiesta dinnerware.

Dayton's Downstairs Store announcement of the arrival of Fiesta Kitchen Kraft, April 1938.

Dayton’s Downstairs Store advertisement announcing two Fiesta events, the introduction of a new color turquoise and the arrival of Fiesta Kitchen Kraft. Minneapolis Star Tribune, April 1, 1938, Pg. 7. Clipping from newspapers.com

The line consisted of the same nineteen pieces available in regular Kitchen Kraft. But the new line was boldly glazed in Fiesta red, blue, yellow and green. They even used two items from the Fiesta line, the 6 inch and 9 inch plates for use as casserole under plates.

The Line

: Fiesta Kitchen Kraft Cake Plate. Image from liveauctioneers.com.

: The Cake Server, shown in all the available Fiesta Kitchen Kraft colors. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com.

: The Large Casserole, in red. From the collection of the author.

: A yellow Medium Fiesta Kitchen Kraft Casserole. Image from replacements.com.

: The Individual Casserole in red. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com.

: All three sizes of the Fiesta Kitchen Kraft covered jar. Image from ebay.

: The Covered Jug in blue. Image from worhtpoint.com.

: All three sizes of the Fiesta Kitchen Kraft Mixing Bowls, in red. Image from Poshmark.com.

: A yellow Fiesta Kitchen Kraft Pie Plate. Image from vintageamericanpottery.com

: The Refrigerator Set with cover in all the Fiesta Kitchen Kraft colors and original paper labels. Image from z&kantiques.com

: The Salt and Pepper Range Shakers in the Kitchen Kraft line, dipped in the blue, yellow and green glazes. Image from liveauctioneers.com.

: The Salad Fork and Spoon with original Fiesta Kitchen Kraft paper labels. Image from Pinterest.

Concurrent with the introduction of Fiesta Kitchen Kraft, the United States was slowly recovering from a severe recession that began the previous summer. Prices for the individual pieces ranged from low to high. The salad spoon cost only $0.20, $0.25 for red ones. One item on the high side was the large covered jar sold for $2.00 in red ($37.00 in 2020). This was probably just too expensive for depression era consumers. As a result some pieces did not sell as well as might have been expected. And the scarcity of these pieces in 2020 reflect this as well as the prices they sell for on the collectors market.

Fiesta Kitchen Kraft price list.

Fiesta Kitchen Kraft Price List. Image from lauralhollowpark.net.

Now that all the pieces have been introduced, from here on out we will take a more in depth look at the items. Mixing bowls, cake plates and the cake server will be the focus of part three.

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys)

CLICK HERE FOR PART THREE

Sources

Laurel Hollow Park

Live Auctioneers

Newspapers.com

Poshmark

Vintage American Pottery

Z & B Antiques

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