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Chicago Art & Photography – One Place In Art – Chicago As Seen Through the Eyes of Our Artists

September 23rd, 2010 Admin Leave a comment Go to comments

The One Place blog series is a collection of art that highlights a certain part of this planet we all call home. Whether it’s a city, state, country or maybe entire continent, the objective is to showcase the place through images and art. So, even if you can’t ever travel there, at least you can enjoy the scenery as depicted by artists and photographers who have. This place:

Chicago

Chicago Skyline By Riccoboni

Named “The Windy City” for its ferocious wind storms, Chicago is the largest city in Illinois as well as all the Midwest. As the third most populated city in the United State, the city bustles with 2.8 million living within the city limits alone. Chicagoland is the nickname for the metropolitan area which has given the world some of the most noteworthy people, places and events ever.

Chicago Theatre by Therese Flanagan

Chicago was founded in 1833 and quickly became a major transportation and telecommunications hub in North America- it remains a major hub for for industry and infrastructure and the O’Hare International Airport is the second busiest airport in the world. Modern Chicago has become a center for business and finance and is listed as one of top ten Global Financial Centers in world. It has also become fiercely important for the Democratic party and has produced many of the most influential politicians ever, including the 44th and current President of the United States, Barack Obama.

Obama Edition by Kenn Bird

Chicago is well know as the home of many notorious gangsters. Most notably “Scareface” Al Capone who rose to power during Prohibition in the 1920s. The city played host to over 1000 gangs during this time. The 20′s also saw an expansion in industry. The influx of new jobs saw African Americans relocating to the windy city from the cotton mills of the deep south. The African American population jumped from 44,000 to 233,000 between 1910 and 1930.

Chicago World's Fair 1933 by Shan Maree Ballester

If you crave the arts and nightlife, Chicago has an abundance of attractive establishments and attractions to choose from. For Classical music lovers, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is known as one of the finest in the world and performs regularly at the Symphony Centre. If the ballet tickles your fancy, the world renowned Joffery Ballet performs at various venues throughout the city.

Chicago is home to the legendary Chess Records who featured such blues acts as Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Willie Dixon. The city remains one of the hottest places to hear live blues in part because it is also home to blues label, Alligator Records. Jazz, soul, funk and good old rock and roll are also well represented in the city’s bustling nightlife.

Chicago Sound by Anji Allen

The arts were also a big attraction to the 32.4 million domestic leisure travelers and 1.3 million overseas visitors in 1998 and this number grows annually. That year, the city opened the Museum Campus. The acre lakefront park surrounds three of Chicago’s main museums, Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, the Field Museum of Natural History and the Shedd Aquarium. Other museums and galleries in Chicago include the Chicago History Museum, the DuSable Museum of African American History, the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum, the Polish Museum of America, the Museum of Broadcast Communications and the Museum of Science and Industry.

Chicago loves its sports and they have the bragging rights. The Chicago Bears have won nine NFL Championships, including Super XX. During the 1990s, Michael Jordon lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA Championships in just eight seasons and let’s not forget the Chicago Blackhawks who have won four Stanley Cups.

The city’s most famous person is hands down is Oprah Whinfrey. If you want to see Oprah before she retires, you will have to go to Chicago to do so. Ms. Winfrey has been broadcasting from the Windy City since 1983.

The city inspired the Grammy Award winning song My Kind of Town (Chicago Is) which Frank Sinatra recorded several versions of.

Chicago found itself on Broadway in 1975. The musical is based on a 1926 play of the same name by reporter Maurine Dallas Watkins about actual criminals and crimes she reported on. Chicago‘s 1996 Broadway revival holds the record for the longest-running musical revival on Broadway and is Broadway’s sixth longest-running show. As of January 12, 2010, it has played for more than 5,400 performances A feature film starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, Richard Gere, and Queen Latifah took home the Oscar in 2002.

Chicago

Chicago is on my top ten cities to visit – right under Paris and New York. Like these two cities, it has a deep cultural history with many sights and sounds. It is also serves as a muse for many artists.