Day 7: October 5, 2015--Chicago, IL, to Boston, MA GALLERY

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This is for the train we boarded the night of Sunday, October 5;
there'll be another for our train change in Albany (Rensselaer),
New York, before we reach Boston tomorrow evening.

Today's Gallery is in three parts:

• The Morning Toddle
• The Art Institute of Chicago
• The Field Museum (and the Museum Campus)

See today's post for more information.

The Morning Toddle

The University Club (on the corner), where Alan put us up for the night. (Photo by Lila)

After breakfast with our friend Alan, we headed for the nearby Chicago Cultural Center, located in the former Central Library building dating to 1897. Then we walked across the street and through Millennium Park.

The Chicago Cultural Center (formerly the Chicago Public Library)

This dome of stained glass (but not Tiffany) measures 40 feet. (Photo by Lila)

At 38 feet, the world's largest dome made of Tiffany Glass (Photo by Lila)

These mosaics are around the Tiffany dome in the
picture above; "CPL" denotes "Chicago Public Library."

Another mosaic (they were everywhere!) with a quote from John Milton (Photo by Lila)

The structures at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion (across the street) look
like a cross between a model of the atom and an old sailing ship.

Cloud Gate by Indian-born British artist Sir Anish Kapoor

The Art Institute of Chicago

The stroll through Millennium Park brought us to the Art Institute of Chicago. The pictures with "Details" links lead to more information (and better photos!) on the Art Institute's website. Enjoy!

When I saw this first photo, I thought, "When were we in a church's choir loft?" Then I realized: This was in the Thorne Miniature Room Gallery, filled with miniatures of "68 rooms that depict the historical development of interior design in Europe and the United States..." Mrs. James Ward Thorne researched and designed the rooms, which were built under her supervision. She donated them to the Art Institute in 1940. (I've always loved dioramas, modeling, etc.--so we both shot a lot.) Incidentally, the scale is one inch to one foot.

English Roman Catholic Church in the
Gothic Style, 1275-1300 (Details)

California Living Room, 1850-1875 (Details)

California Living Room, c. 1935-1940 (Details)

English Bedchamber of the Jacobean or Stuart Period, 1603-88 (Details) (Photo by Lila)

English Entrance Hall of the Georgian Period, c. 1775 (Details) (Photo by Lila)

We didn't shoot that much of the Indian work (I think Lila was mostly just soaking it in), but here are a couple of pieces that stood out.

Head of Hanuman, "The Monkey God" 9th century (Details)

"Krishna Fluting" Late 13th/Early 14th century
(Photo by Lila)

Detail of the above picture

Most of the rest of these will be some pretty well-known works by some pretty well-known European and American artists. With a couple of photo-bombers at the end.

Nighthawks; Edward Hopper, 1942 (Details)

American Gothic; Grant Wood, 1930 (Details)

The Child's Bath; Mary Cassatt, 1893 (Details)

Why Are You Angry?; Paul Gauguin, 1896 (Details)

The Basket of Apples; Paul Cezanne, about 1893 (Details)

Stack of Wheat (Thaw, Sunset); Claude Monet, 1890/91 (Details)

The Bedroom; Vincent Van Gogh, 1889 (Details)

Self-Portrait; Vincent Van Gogh, 1887 (Details)

The Star; Edgar Degas, 1879/81 (Details)

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte--1884; Georges Seurat, 1884-1886 (Details)
(By the way--it's huge, over 10 feet wide!)

Two Sisters (On the Terrace); Pierre-Auguste Renoir, 1881 (Details)

Cow's Skull with Calico Roses; Georgia O'Keeffe, 1931 (Details) (Photo by Lila)

As our gift to you for plowing through all those paintings here are a couple of "photo-bombers" (if a photo-bomber can be in front of the subjects...)

Putting on her best stoic expression (fail)

Why did we put me in front of this guy? By the way, that's James
Vibert, Sculptor by Ferdinand Hodler, 1907 (Details) (Photo by Lila)

The Field Museum (and the Museum Campus)

We managed to get about an hour and a half--nowhere near enough--in The Field Museum, and then walked around in near darkness to see just a little more.

As always, the architecture was half the attraction. Here's a map. That "Stanley Field Hall" really is a sight!

We probably squandered far more time "way down in Egypt's land" than we should have. Virtually everything you see here has to do with death and a supposed afterlife.

(Photo by Lila)

Finally escaping our bondage in "Egypt," we saw more...

Carl Akeley's "Lion Spearing Group II" faces Group I
as seen in the inset at the bottom. (Read Akeley's
pamphlet on the topic--and the sculpture--here.)

African elephants (stuffed)

The popular T. Rex known as "Sue." (Photo by Lila)

Sue closer up.

Compare the skeletons of a whale and an elephant. (Photo by Lila)

Hard to believe they once ran wild.

Lila expresses her "love" of birds. And by "love," I mean "fear."

Leaving the Field, we walked toward the Lake.

The Shedd, once the world's largest indoor aquarium, was off to our left. (Photo by Lila)

The Adler Planetarium was America's first.

There were twelve sculptures representing the signs of the Chinese zodiac in front of the Adler, executed by sometimes-dissident Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. I leave you now with Lila's sign and mine.

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