Artwork Spotlight: A curated space offering deep dives into the history, composition, and story of individual artworks—whether a single piece, multi-part installation, or composite creation.
At the St. Louis Museum, George Caleb Bingham’s “Stump Speaking” Presents the Missouri Artist Politician’s Complex, Satirical Vision of Mid-19th Century American Democracy on the Frontier.
FEATURE IMAGE: George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879), Stump Speaking, 1854, oil on canvas, 42 1/2 x 58 in. (108 x 147.3 cm), St. Louis Museum of Art. The painting begun by Bingham in November 1853 was completed in February 1854 in Philadelphia. Stump Speaking is one of three paintings in a series representing to a national…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: FERNAND HARVEY LUNGREN (1857-1932), The Café, 1882/84, oil on canvas. The Art Institute of Chicago.
FEATURE Image: Fernand Harvey Lungren (1857-1932), The Café, 1882/84, oil on canvas. The Art Institute of Chicago. 9/2014. The artist, born in Sweden, moved with his family to Toledo, Ohio, as a child. Lungren wanted to be an artist but his father objected, wanting him to be a mining engineer. For a brief time, in 1874,…
My Art Photography: OSKAR KOKOSCHKA (Austrian, 1886-1980), Lady in Red, 1911, oil on canvas, Milwaukee Art Museum.
Feature Image: Oskar Kokoschka (Austrian, 1886-1980), Lady in Red (Dame in Rot), 1911, oil on canvas, 21 11/16 × 16 in. (55.09 × 40.64 cm), Milwaukee Art Museum. Author’s photograph, 2016. see – Collection | Milwaukee Art Museum – retrieved June 5, 2026. Oskar Kokoschka in 1916, photographed by Marta Wolff (1871–1942), a Berlin‑based portrait…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: JOAN MIRÓ (1893-1983, Spanish), Joan Miró’s Chicago, 1967 (installed 1981), Chicago, Illinois.
FEATURE image: July 2015. Joan Miró, Joan Miró’s Chicago (sometimes Miss Chicago), steel reinforced-concrete, colored ceramics, 1967, Brunswick Building Plaza, 69 W. Washington Street, Chicago. This artwork is Miró’s only monumental sculpture. 7.04 mb. Author’s photograph. Joan Miró (1893-1983) is a Catalan who is a major dadaist artist “Dada” is a nonsense word but its…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: Gettysburg National Military Park, PA, 1888 bronze of Brigadier General Gouverneur Kemble Warren by Karl Gerhardt (1853-1940).
FEATURE image: Brigadier General Gouverneur Kemble Warren, 1888, by Karl Gerhardt. Gettysburg National Military Park. Author’s photograph taken in April 2006 (65%). One of Gettysburg’s most famous statues among the park’s many hundreds of monuments, markers and plaques, Gouverneur (his first name, not his title) Kemble Warren (1830-1882) was a civil engineer and U.S Army…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: THE WORKER, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), 2001, Willow Springs, Illinois. (7 Photos & Illustrations).
FEATURE Image: Cook/DuPage Cos., Willow Springs, IL. The Worker, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Camp Chicago-Lemont, Company 612, est. June 4, 1933. Author’s photograph, 6/2018 6mb. The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a major program in President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal to combat the devastating effects of the Great Depression. Called “Mr. Roosevelt’s Tree Army,” there were…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: Bronze, 1930, Capt. A. Lincoln, Illinois Volunteer Militia, Black Hawk War, 1832, by LEONARD CRUNELLE (1872-1944), on the Rock River in Dixon, Illinois.
FEATURE image: The large bronze statue was the first prominent public depiction of the 16th U.S. president as a young adult man. Author’s photograph, June 2017. 4.70mb. Capt. Illinois in the early 1830s was the edge of the American frontier and virtually wilderness. The Native American tribes were being expelled from the northern tier of…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: RICHARD HUNT (1935-2023, American), We Will, 2005, Chicago, Illinois.
Chicagoan Richard Hunt has over 150 large-scale installations around the world. Since 2005, Richard Hunt’s We Will has stood proudly on the sidewalk by the intersection of Randolph Street and Garland Court near Chicago’s Cultural Center and Millennium Park. We Will stands 35 feet tall and is made of welded stainless steel. The public art…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: ALEXANDER CALDER (American, 1898-1976), Flamingo (1974), Federal Center Plaza, Chicago, Illinois.
FEATURE Image: Flamingo by Alexander Calder is a masterwork stabile in Chicago’s downtown. It was unveiled on October 25, 1974 in a dedication ceremony with the artist. It is one of Chicago’s iconic outdoor public artworks. 6/2022 7.73 mb In downtown Chicago’s Federal Center Plaza on South Dearborn Street between Adams Street and Jackson Boulevard…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: BIAGIO GOVERNALI, Bronze Doors, Mysteries of the Rosary (2004)—Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii, Chicago, IL.
FEATURE IMAGE: Dedicated by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. on October 11, 2004, the three sacred bronze doors – East, West, and Central – at the Shrine of Our Lady of Pompeii in Chicago, IL, are by Italian artist Biagio Governali, native of Corleone, Italy, and depict the mysteries of the Rosary. CENTRAL Bronze Door: Sorrowful…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: JACOB WATTS (b., American), Moose Bubblegum Bubble, 2014, 33 E. Congress (South Wall), Chicago, Illinois.
Jacob Watts is a photographer and visual storyteller based in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of Oswego (Illinois) High School (class of 2008), Watts received his B.F.A. from Columbia College Chicago in 2012. The photo-illustration of a moose blowing bubblegum hangs on a blue wall in the South Loop of Downtown Chicago at a size of…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: RUTH AIZUSS MIGDAL (b. 1932, American), Here, 2012, Chicago, Illinois.
Ruth Aizuss Migdal was born in Chicago. The artist was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (B.F.A.) and the University of Illinois at Urbana (M.F.A). Migdal was awarded an honorary doctorate from U of I, her alma mater, in 2019. Classically educated and trained in painting and printmaking, initially she created…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: EDUARDO KOBRA (b. 1975, Brazil), Muddy Waters, King of the Blues (2017), 17 N. State Street, Chicago, Illinois.
FEATURE image: Muddy Waters, King of the Chicago Blues, by Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra in a photograph taken in May 2021. The 10-story mural tribute was painted in 2017 and is located on State Street in Downtown Chicago. This 100-foot-tall (10 stories) mural of legendary Chicago blues musician Muddy Waters (1913-1983) was dedicated in June…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: BOB MANGOLD (b. 1930, American), Anemotive Kinetic, Rockford, Illinois.
As a kinetic (movement) artist, Mangold’s sculptures explore concepts of space and motion. In 1962, Mangold began his Anemotive series of spherical, wind-propelled kinetic sculptures. As with this art installation in Rockford, Anemotive Kinetic, the anemotives are characterized by cup-like shapes mounted on arms which allow for motion in nature. text&photo:
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: JERRY PEART (b. 1948, American), Wildflower, Rockford, Illinois.
Nicholas Conservatory & Gardens along the Rock River in Rockford, Illinois. opened in October 2011. It offers a main exhibition house, greenhouses, classrooms, a roof garden, a lagoon, walking trails, outdoor gardens, and more. The 20-foot painted aluminum sculpture called Wildflower in a fountain setting stands near the entrance of the conservatory & gardens. Jerry…
SPAIN. My Art Photography: PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973, Spanish). Gift to the People – The Chicago Picasso in Daley Plaza (1967).
FEATURE image: Chicago’s Picasso in Daley Plaza. Author’s photograph (July 2015). Chicago’s “Picasso” in today’s downtown Daley Plaza was officially unveiled on Tuesday, August 15, 1967 at 12 noon. Weeks before the public event excitement (and some dread) swirled among Chicagoans and others as to what Pablo Picasso’s monumental outdoor sculpture would be like. In…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: MARION KRYCZKA (b., American). Chevy Dealership: A Tribute to Route 66 (2007), Joliet, Illinois.
FEATURE image: Chevy Dealership: A Tribute to Route 66, 2007, 396 N. Chicago Street, Joliet, Illinois. Tribute mural on Motor Row. Joliet, Illinois, is a city of nearly 150,000 people about 45 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Joliet is famous in popular culture for its appearance in the opening credits and scene of the 1980…
FRANCE. My Art Photography: MARC CHAGALL (1887-1985, Belarusian-French), Four Seasons, 1974, Chase Tower Plaza, Chicago, Illinois.
Feature Image: East side (detail), Marc Chagall, Four Seasons, 1972, Chase Tower Plaza, Chicago. May 2014. 7.44 mb 92%. Author’s photograph. Composed of thousands of inlaid chips in over 250 colors, The Four Seasons (1972) mosaic in Chase Tower Plaza, Chicago, by Marc Chagall (1887-1985) portrays scenes of Chicago. It features Chagall’s modernist art informed…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: GAMALIEL RAMIREZ (1949-2018, Puerto Rico), Sea of Flags (2004). Street mural in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.
FEATURE Image: Sea of Flags, Gamaliel Ramirez, 2004, Humboldt Park, Chicago. SEA OF FLAGS, 2004, 2500 West Division Street, Chicago (Humboldt Park) by Gamaliel Ramirez (1949-2018) with the assistance of community members. The mural entitled Sea of Flags depicts Fiesta Boricua (De Bandera a Bandera), an annual 3-day music and cultural event in the Humboldt…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: OVER THE TOP TO VICTORY or “Doughboy,” 1921, in Wheaton, Illinois, by John Paulding (American, 1883-1935).
FEATURE image: May 2018. Over the Top to Victory (“Doughboy”), 1921, John Paulding, Memorial Park, Wheaton, Illinois. All photographs in this post are the author’s original work. “Over the Top to Victory” is a bronze sculpture of an American World War I infantryman — one of the famed doughboys — created by American sculptor John…
FRANCE. POST-IMPRESSIONISM. The mysterious she-wolf figure, OVIRI (SAVAGE), exhibited in Paris in 1895 by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903).
FEATURE image: Paul Gauguin, Oviri (Savage),1894, stone, 75 x 19 x 27 cm, Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Public Domain. By John P. Walsh By 1887 French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) had created over 50 ceramic sculptures and carved several decorative panels. So it may be expected that during his interlude in Paris between 1893 and 1895 that…
UNITED STATES. My Art Photography: Made in 1990, a monumental Cor-10 steel sculpture by FERDINAND REBECHINI (American, 1923-2003) depicts a Kaskaskia leading Fr. Jacques Marquette, S.J. and Louis Jolliet through the Chicago Portage in 1673.
FEATURE image: Kaskaskia tribe member leads Fr. Jacques Marquette, S.J. and Louis Jolliet through the Chicago Portage, 1673. Cor-10 steel, Ferdinand Rebechini (1923-2003), The Chicago Portage National Historic Site, Lyons, Illinois, 1990. Author’s photograph taken in November 2012. The Chicago Portage, which made Chicago’s founding and thriving possible, is a U.S. Department of Interior National…
