Renzo Piano’s Modern Wing opened this past weekend, making the Art Institute of Chicago the second-largest art museum in the country after the Met; no, this blog post is not a review, as unfortunately I haven’t actually gotten over there yet despite literally years of eager anticipation, both for the art contained within and the art of the building itself (particularly the new exhibit on architecture and modern industrial design). In light of both, thought I’d share links to two slide shows /articles on these very subjects from the New York Times. Long story short: success. This is somewhat significant in itself, as it’s pretty hard to get a kind word about anything related to culture located outside of New York from a New Yorker… per Saul Steinberg, 1975:
eh, I just wanted an excuse to include that image. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff that the new wing is “the closest Renzo Piano has come in at least a decade to achieving a near-classical ideal.” That’s some high praise. Check out the reviews here:
A Grand and Intimate Modern Art Trove
Aaand the picture-pretty accompanying slide shows here:
