The Art Ladies
March 4, 2011
The Art Ladies at Ten Chimneys
I call them the Art Ladies. Actually, they are the Community Associates of the Art Institute of Chicago, but that’s way too long for everyday conversation. I’m a member of the Glen Ellyn-Wheaton chapter, and our purpose is to look at art. Any kind of art. Art that hangs on the walls of the Art Institute, for sure, but also glass, tile, architecture, sculpture, fashion and mausoleums in the Chicago area and beyond. And we eat and shop for souvenirs. About once a month we board a very nice bus and go someplace, such as Ten Chimneys. That’s the former estate of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who were Broadway legends between 1930 and 1960. Ten Chimneys is in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.
My favorite outing was the Chicago cemetery tour. We first visited Graceland Cemetery, a Victorian-era resting place, where many of the city’s founders and notables are buried. Among them are Bertha and Potter Palmer, who sold his retail emporium to Marshall Field, and architects Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. Then we went to Bohemian National Cemetery, a working-class burial ground that embraced 143 victims of the 1915 Eastland boat capsizing in the Chicago River. Such a contrast between the rich and the poor! Many of the markers at Bohemian are sculptures of branches or cut-off trees, which signify lives cut short. At Graceland, the monuments are stately and the landscape is lush.
Another good day was themed around angels. We bussed to the Art Institute for a presentation on how angels are portrayed in art throughout the ages. We learned the differences between archangels, cherubim and seraphim. Then we lunched “in the heavens,” on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Building. In the afternoon, we viewed the 14 human-sized angel sculptures at Fourth Presbyterian Church.
The Art Institute has 16 Art Ladies groups. Our group is the largest, with about 350 members. Occasionally we meet for lunches or desserts at a nearby banquet hall, and art experts come to give presentations. We’ve had programs on art restoration and on fashion during Jane Austen’s lifetime. At those events, some of the Art Ladies wear suits. And hats, even.
The Art Ladies take a break during the summer, but that’s when I look forward to receiving my new program booklet in the mail. I can hardly wait to see where we are going next.
