Product Details
A Guide to Chicago's Murals

A Guide to Chicago's Murals
By Mary Lackritz Gray

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Product Description

Chicago is a city known for its fabulous architecture and public sculpture by artists such as Picasso and Calder, but anyone who has seen the gorgeous lunettes in the Auditorium Theater or the South Side's Wall of Respect, which inaugurated the city's contemporary mural movement, knows that Chicago has an equally rich tradition of mural painting. Through these murals, the history of Chicago and the nation is writ in churches and lobbies, on viaducts and school walls. Mary Gray's A Guide to Chicago's Murals is the first definitive handbook to the treasures that can be found all over the city.

With full-color illustrations of nearly two hundred Chicago murals and accompanying entries that describe their history—who commissioned them and why, how artists collaborated with architects, the subjects of the murals and their contexts—A Guide to Chicago's Murals serves both a general and a specific audience. Divided into easy-to-read geographical sections with useful maps for walking tours, it is the perfect companion for tourists or Chicagoans interested in coming to know better this aspect of the city's history. Gray also provides crucial information on lesser-known artists and on murals that have been destroyed over the years, filling a gap in the visual record of the city's development.

Gray also includes biographies of more than 150 artists and a glossary of key terms, making A Guide to Chicago's Murals essential reading for mural viewing. From post offices to libraries, fieldhouses to banks, and private clubs to street corners, Mary Gray chronicles the amazing works of artists who have sought to make public declarations in this most social of art forms.

"A major lacuna in the history of art in Chicago has been filled, with the thoroughness of the research proportionate to the richness of the material revealed."—From the Foreword by Franz Schulze

"Gray's book . . . can function as a guidebook, as the murals are conveniently arranged according to the quadrants of the city. But the book is also beautiful to look at and indespensable as art history and Chicago history as well. . . . This book is a wonderful guide to Chicago's rich and unique mural tradition."—Elizabeth Alexander, Chicago Tribune Books

"If you love art and history, this is a book you'll truly enjoy."—Al Paulson, Utne Reader

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #361268 in Books
  • Published on: 2001-04-01
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 520 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
The largest body of federally commissioned New Deal artwork was done in the Windy City. Examples are found everywhere, from the dining rooms of exclusive clubs to the walls of the city's viaducts. There's no denying that some very good books on Chicago's mural tradition are already available, but Gray (coauthor, A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture) offers the first comprehensive history. This book includes information on nearly 700 murals, some of the earliest dating from the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 and the latest being a 2001 mosaic. Functioning as a handy guidebook as well as an art history survey, this work is divided into five broad geographical sections that also include suburban sites in the Chicago area. Each mural is illustrated in full color, and the accompanying text includes its date, address, a brief description, and of course the name of the artist. In addition, the book's index is thorough enough to help the reader find a given piece by artist or location. Other features are biographical sketches of more than 150 artists, a list of public schools with extant murals, a glossary, and an illustrated section that lists lost murals. Highly recommended for all art and public libraries. Margarete Gross, Chicago P.L.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Inside Flap

Chicago is a city known for its fabulous architecture and public sculpture by artists such as Picasso and Calder, but anyone who has seen the gorgeous lunettes in the Auditorium Theater or the South Side's Wall of Respect, which inaugurated the city's contemporary mural movement, knows that Chicago has an equally rich tradition of mural painting. Through these murals, the history of Chicago and the nation is writ in churches and lobbies, on viaducts and school walls. Mary Gray's A Guide to Chicago's Murals is the first definitive handbook to the treasures that can be found all over the city.

With full-color illustrations of nearly two hundred Chicago murals and accompanying entries that describe their history—who commissioned them and why, how artists collaborated with architects, the subjects of the murals and their contexts—A Guide to Chicago's Murals serves both a general and a specific audience. Divided into easy-to-read geographical sections with useful maps for walking tours, it is the perfect companion for tourists or Chicagoans interested in coming to know better this aspect of the city's history. Gray also provides crucial information on lesser-known artists and on murals that have been destroyed over the years, filling a gap in the visual record of the city's development.

Gray also includes biographies of more than 150 artists and a glossary of key terms, making A Guide to Chicago's Murals essential reading for mural viewing. From post offices to libraries, fieldhouses to banks, and private clubs to street corners, Mary Gray chronicles the amazing works of artists who have sought to make public declarations in this most social of art forms.

About the Author

Mary Lackritz Gray has degrees from Bryn Mawr College and the University of Chicago and is the coauthor of A Guide to Chicago's Public Sculpture. She has been active in the preservation, care, and investigation of public art for many years.

Customer Reviews

Absolutely terrific!5
Not only is this catalog of Chicago's murals enormously useful for the casual reader/visitor, but its style is elegant and restrained, its color illustrations clear and gorgeous, its scholarship impeccable and useful, and quite simply a pleasure to study and own. We are fortunate to have such a comprehensive book.

Hidden treasures of Chicago revealed5
This exquisite volume would make a wonderful gift for any Chicagoan or nostalgic ex-Chicagoan, and its neighborhood-by-neighborhood scheme of organization makes it an excellent take-along for visitors to the city interested in Chicago's architectural heritage. Even longtime residents of the city will find photographs and histories of artworks whose existence they never suspected; the photos are beautifully executed and printed, and the intelligent commentary is based on thorough research.

Great for Chicago natives5
If you love Chicago, and/or went to a Chicago Public School, you will love this book.