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Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Letters: Why the Art Institute's handling of Gustave Caillebotte's sexuality is disappointing
We read with interest Hannah Elgar's feature 'How light a touch is too light?' (Aug. 3) about the handling of Gustave Caillebotte's sexuality by the Art Institute and the renaming of the exhibition 'Painting His World.' We were especially struck by the comments from Jonathan Katz because of our experience visiting the Caillebotte exhibit and 'The First Homosexuals' at Wrightwood 659, curated by Katz. I am a scholar of anti-discrimination law (and a faculty member at Loyola University Chicago School of Law), and my husband, David, is a teacher and student of art history. While we enjoyed the Caillebotte exhibit very much, we were disappointed at its elliptical (at best) treatment of Caillebotte's sexuality, for two reasons. It seemed insensitive to the realities of class, which in large part enabled Caillebotte to paint what he wished without worrying about sales or a disapproving public. But worse, one of our closest friends, Mark Brosmer, is a gay artist in Los Angeles — and an exhibit curated this way all but denies the artistic legacy of gay artists and gay life throughout history. In many of Caillebotte's paintings, we recognized a loving depiction of the sociability of gay men together in the past, something we have observed and enjoyed in the present day. 'The First Homosexuals,' by contrast, enthusiastically explores that legacy, helping the viewer to understand which artists felt freer to express their same-sex orientation in their art, and why; what those risks were and who was willing to take those risks. We immediately thought, 'Caillebotte belongs here!' — in an exhibit where the sensual, erotic and homosocial dimensions of his work and life could be foregrounded and celebrated. We hope many Chicagoans felt the her review of the Gustave Caillebotte show now on view at the Art Institute, Hannah Edgar questions the museum's decision to change the title of the exhibit from 'Caillebotte: Painting Men,' used by the Getty and Musee d'Orsay, to 'Caillebotte: Painting His World.' Her article explores whether this title change is based on an Art Institute decision to downplay the homoerotic aspects of some of the paintings. This change of title and emphasis strike me as minor considering that all three museums have displayed the same paintings and offered the same biographical information. There is a lack of evidence that Caillebotte was gay. Which makes the assertion of an art historian Edgar consults — that this is an example of queer erasure and is consistent with the Art Institute's pathological 1950s mindset — completely over the top and in fact a time when Catholics in Chicago are visibly proud of their religion, it is shameful than one organization has chosen to focus on the worst parts of their history. On May 8, Robert Prevost was elected as Pope Leo XIV, and the Chicago papers claimed him as 'Chicago's pope.' Everyone, no matter what their religion, was proud that Chicago could produce a man who was elevated to the papacy. Then in June, Chicago recognized the good work of another Catholic, Sister Rosemary Connelly. For over 50 years, Connelly was a dynamic force building Misericordia into a healthy home for children and adults with physical and developmental challenges. Politicians and church leaders were effusive in their praise of her work, and Chicago papers gave extensive coverage as a real testament to her years of service to the church. Recently, the church was once again recognized as a beacon of hope when the news focused on the works two valiant nuns, Sister Patricia Murphy and Sister JoAnn Persch, after Murphy passed away. Both women were recognized for spending more than 40 years championing the rights of the poor and the immigrants. They spent long hours with immigrants in detention and found ways to house the asylum-seekers sent to Chicago by Texas Gov. Abbott. These three wonderful church champions have made all Catholics feel good about their church and have encouraged many to emulate their actions. That is why it is so disconcerting that the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, has chosen to grab the headlines by bringing up decades-old sexual abuse allegations. SNAP should continue to investigate these allegations, as it has been doing for the last many years, but it should do it quietly and stop grabbing the headlines and erasing the euphoric feelings of the Catholics in the Chicago Cubs will host the 2027 All-Star Game. It's about time the sport focuses its promotional energy on the upcoming event, rather than on special attraction games at a motor speedway park or a cornfield. I imagine a return to Hawaii or a game at an amusement park site is next. Wrigley Field is a showcase because it's a classic. Fans aren't clamoring for more bells and whistles. I hope Major League Baseball doesn't take it for granted.I won't be at Wrigley Field in 2027 for the All-Star Game, an ostentatious display of no consequence other than to line the pockets of sponsors and appease the egos of overpaid, uninterested athletes. But I agree with Jack Lavin's Aug. 5 op-ed ('MLB All-Star Game in 2027? Let's fly the 'W' for Chicago's economy') that it's good for the city and a chance to showcase the most iconic stadium in MLB. Sorry, Fenway Park, your Green Monster can't compete with Wrigley Field's ivy-covered walls. I hope the visitors enjoy the city and try a Chicago hot dog — with mustard, of course.
Chicago Tribune
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Summer arts 2025: All you need to know for movies, concerts, food festivals and more
Here are all of the Tribune's guides and critics' picks for summer 2025. Our writers and critics make their Top 10 lists and recommendations for this season's TV, movies, music, theater, books, dance events, concerts, food festivals and more. What's on Chicago stages this summer? Our list also includes 'Billie Jean' at Chicago Shakespeare and a new play by Kristofer Diaz. Read more from Chris Jones here. Experiences, not exhibitions, are coaxing folks off their couches and into cultural institutions. Read more from Hannah Edgar here. The Art Institute has a big summer show on Gustave Caillebotte, the Intuit Art Museum has reopened and 'The First Homosexuals' at Wrightwood 659 is not to be missed. That's just for starters. Read more from Lori Waxman here. A look at 15 shows on tap in the summer months, when streaming is your best bet for new and returning series. Read more from Nina Metz here. A new 'Superman,' a new 'Jurassic Park' sequel, plus a few genuinely new un-franchised hopefuls fill the summer 2025 movie calendar. Read more from Michael Phillips here. Chicago summer looks to be as busy as ever, with classical and jazz programming packed with blockbusters. Read more from Hannah Edgar here. There's also Cerqua Rivera, a weekend for emerging choreographers and the annual Dance for Life gala. Most of our selections are indoors, though you can find dance in the open air. Read more from Lauren Warnecke here. 'Someday, when I open a bookstore and the big bucks roll in, I'll display titles in narrow categories, ensuring no one finds anything and has to wander,' Christopher Borrelli writes. 'This summer survey will be my trial run.' Read more here. Our picks for live music have the boldface names — Beyoncé, AC/DC, Lady Gaga and Oasis — as well as club dates and music festivals. Read the full list here. Festivals are one of the best parts of summer in Chicago, ranging from blowout concerts to small neighborhood parties. Read more from Samantha Nelson here. The Tribune Food team dives into patios across the city that are worth exploring, from recently opened spots to patios featuring pizza under sparkling lights. Read the full list here.
Chicago Tribune
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
The sweeping art survey ‘First Homosexuals' returns to Chicago, and a changed world
In 2022, art historian Jonathan Katz and a team of curators unveiled an ambitious exhibit: a survey of more than 100 artworks created by, or referencing, individuals experiencing same-sex attraction. That exhibition, 'The First Homosexuals,' took over one floor of Wrightwood 659, a Tadao Ando-designed exhibit space in Lincoln Park funded and operated by philanthropist Fred Eychaner's Alphawood Foundation. But Katz always dreamed bigger. 'It was COVID that put the kibosh on those plans,' he said of the exhibit's first iteration. 'Most museums had, at that time, loan moratoriums.' Now, 'The First Homosexuals' is back at the scale Katz intended. More than 350 artworks have taken over Wrightwood 659, this time over all three of its levels. Visitors to the 2022 iteration will recognize works by Gerda Wegener, married to transgender artist Lili Elbe, and Konstantin Somov, a gay Russian artist. Others are new to this expansion, like doodles by author Federico García Lorca, a sculpture by actress Sarah Bernhardt, and the only full-length portrait of Oscar Wilde painted in his lifetime. 'The reception in 2022 was just incredible,' said Chirag Badlani, executive director of the Alphawood Foundation. 'Essentially, the day we closed, we said, 'Let's start planning.'' Some artworks bring the suppressed queerness of their makers or their subjects to the fore. 'The Man in Black' is a 1913 portrait of Art Institute benefactor Robert Henry Allerton by Glyn Philpot, an acclaimed British painter whose work appears throughout 'The First Homosexuals.' Allerton and Philpot were once lovers; the Allerton likeness, with rosy cheeks and arched brows, is a stark contrast to the other Hemingwayish depictions of Allerton circulating at the time, including a full-page Tribune spread hailing him as the 'richest bachelor in Chicago.' Featured sculptors and lifelong partners Frances Loring and Florence Wyle met in Chicago, where both studied at the School of the Art Institute with Lorado Taft. But 'The First Homosexuals' doesn't lionize its subjects, either. This time, the exhibit makes no bones about the Nazi sympathies of artists like Marsden Hartley and Elisàr von Kupffer, both of whom painted voluptuous, ambiguously gendered young men. It also unflinchingly includes works that betray the artist's own prejudices, like a pair of disparaging Western artworks depicting two-spirit — or gender variant — Native Americans. 'We go back all the way to the first invasion of the United States and Latin America by the Spanish, when European attitudes about sexuality rewrote Indigenous attitudes,' Katz said. But, as with the 2022 iteration, Katz and his team kept most of this exhibition focused on the span between 1869, the year the word 'homosexual' was coined, to 1939, during the rise of fascism in Europe. As the exhibit argues more comprehensively than before, by becoming a discrete identity, homosexuality became the basis for community — finding a common language for difference — but it was also further pathologized. Visitors exit through an archway superimposed with the famous photograph from 1933 of Nazi book burnings in Berlin. 'The book-burning image that everybody knows is the burning of Hirschfeld Institute — it's that library that's being burned,' Katz told journalists during a recent walkthrough of the exhibit. 'We wanted them to leave through this exit in order to make clear the dangers we face.' Those dangers — the ascendancy of anti-gay governments worldwide — interfered with this exhibition far more than in its 2022 iteration. Visitors will notice two gray-scale reproductions on display in lieu of the original artworks. The sheets represent works by Slovak and Hungarian painter Ladislav Mednyánszky and Colombian artist Hena Rodríguez, both of which were withdrawn from the exhibition. The loans of Mednyánszky's paintings were canceled by the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava at the last minute; 65 museum staff, suspecting state intervention due to 'The First Homosexuals' theme, resigned in protest. Meanwhile, the two Rodríguez charcoals were withdrawn by its collector, fearing for the works' safety in the U.S. after the election of Donald Trump. 'It is an index of our moment that Colombians felt their artwork would not be safe in the United States under Trump,' Katz said. Even showing 'The First Homosexuals' at Wrightwood 659 requires the kind of precautions typically associated with a much larger institution. Upon arrival, visitors must present an ID for entry. Gallery attendants double as security guards. Though Badlani says there are certainly discussions about touring a smaller version of the exhibition, Katz suspects 'The First Homosexuals' now faces a higher glass ceiling in the U.S., particularly among museums large enough and prestigious enough to take it on. 'The director of one of the most important museums in the world said to me, 'This is exactly the show that I would like to have. And it's for that reason that I cannot show it,'' Katz said.
