Art Review: French Art at the Art Institute of Chicago

In February, Jeffrey and Carol Horvitz, very serious collectors outside Boston, announced that their collection of French art from the 16th into the early 19th centuries, the finest in America, would come to the Art Institute of Chicago as a gift. This is big news. The art is superb — 2,000 drawings, hundreds of paintings, and a group of sculptures, all exquisite in their own way. The Art Institute is one of our great big-city museums, to be sure, but it’s got a quality I don’t often see: Groups of galleries are so beautifully and coherently arranged, and with such good art, that they feel like intimate, freestanding museums. The place is never overwhelming. And I like Chicago, whose welcoming, entrepreneurial, boisterous spirit makes it the characteristic big American city.

It’s good, too, to see that truly magnificent art philanthropy is in the air. Last year, I covered the Clark Art Institute’s new stash of Old Master portraits — and $45 million — from the estate of tech titan and Clark trustee Aso Tavitian. Both the Tavitian and the Horvitz gifts will transform their new homes. The Clark will build an addition to display the portraits. The Horvitzes will give art and substantial money in phases. With the Art Institute’s long-established and dazzling Impressionist collection, the museum will become the country’s hot spot for the best French art outside France.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

Featured Tags

Manage following

Art

In February, Jeffrey and Carol Horvitz, very serious collectors outside Boston, announced that their collection of French art from the 16th into the early 19th centuries, the finest in America, would come to the Art Institute of Chicago as a gift. This is big news. The art is superb — 2,000 drawings, hundreds of paintings, and a group of sculptures, all exquisite in their own way. The Art Institute is one of our great big-city museums, to be sure, but it’s got a quality I don’t often see: Groups of galleries are so beautifully and coherently arranged, and with such good art, that they feel like intimate, freestanding museums. The place is never overwhelming. And I like Chicago, whose welcoming, entrepreneurial, boisterous spirit makes it the characteristic big American city.

It’s good, too, to see that truly magnificent art philanthropy is in the air. Last year, I covered the Clark Art Institute’s new stash of Old Master portraits — and $45 million — from the estate of tech titan and Clark trustee Aso Tavitian. Both the Tavitian and the Horvitz gifts will transform their new homes. The Clark will build an addition to display the portraits. The Horvitzes will give art and substantial money in phases. With the Art Institute’s long-established and dazzling Impressionist collection, the museum will become the country’s hot spot for the best French art outside France.