08/14/03

The kind of museum you can work through in an hour or two--a telescoped collection of choice rarities and surprises.

by Contributor

The Collection
The permanent collection covers just about the whole history of art. You'll find superb, tastefully displayed objects ranging from ancient Greek pottery to Renaissance and Baroque paintings; from Chinese landscape scrolls to works by the postwar American painters Mark Rothko, Philip Pearlstein and Ed Paschke. Frank Lloyd Wright's dining table and chairs from the Robie House (1906-1909) are here. And the sculpture garden holds notable works by Richard Hunt and Scott Burton. There also is a small museum store and a sit-down cafe.

History
In 1974, in a boxy but elegant Hyde Park building by architect Edward Larrabee Barnes, the Smart Museum opened its doors with both a permanent collection and excellent temporary exhibitions. Since then, it has become a greatly respected force on the Chicago art scene.