Author Description

For the first time in its long history, The Art Institute of Chicago is publishing a catalogue of its extensive collection of American art. This landmark publication features 200 of the museum's finest American works. Among the highlights are paintings by Mary Cassatt, John Singleton Copley, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, George Inness, John Singer Sargent, and James McNeill Whistler; sculptures by Horatio Greenough, Harriet Hosmet, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and Lorado Taft; furniture from the colonial era to the twentieth century, including masterpieces by Herter Brothers and Frank Lloyd Wright; and superb silver and glass objects. The featured works in the collection are discussed in 150 short essays written by Barter, Kimberly Rhodes, and Seth A. Thayer, with contributions by Andrew Walker. All of these essays include new research, and are the most authoritative studies of these important objects. The authors have presented their findings in an accessible style that will engage both the general reader and the specialist. For anyone interested in American art, this is an indispensable guide to a great collection.