Vernacular photography is considered the opposite of art, but the shots can have surprising depth and cultural value. They are often unintentionally revealing, strange, funny, or heartbreaking—or all that at once. Some think of vernacular photos as folk art. And it has become a genre for fine-art photographers who use vernacular forms as a means of expression, blurring the line between art and “real life.”

The results are often stunning—such as those featured in a current exhibition at The Art Institute of Chicago. It’s showing more than 100 amazing images from its collection of fine-art vernacular photographs in a exhibition entitled “In the Vernacular,” running Feb. 6-May 31. Featured artists include greats like Walker Evans, Cindy Sherman, Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Gary Winogrand, Andy Warhol, Lee Friedlander, Martin Parr, Nikki S. Lee, and others.

Photo credits: (Top) Garry Winogrand. Cape Kennedy, Florida, (Apollo 11 Moon Shot), 1969. Gift of Elizabeth and Frederick Myers. © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. (Bottom) Martin Parr. Fashion Magazine: Fashion Shoot, New York, 1999. David C. and Sarajean Ruttenberg Arts Foundation Purchase Fund.

The Midwest may be “Ground Zero” for the economic downturn, where recession is depression writ especially cruel. However, a silver lining remains in the region’s art institutions. These struggle valiantly to thrive despite gloom and doom. Granted some ongoing activity began in better times. However, this doesn’t lessen the inspirational uplift provided for a section of the country much in need of it.

Where to find that silver lining:

The Artistic Furniture of Charles Rohlfs
Now at the Milwaukee Art Museum, this major retrospective runs through August. Rohlfs was an early Arts and Crafts pioneer. He strongly influenced Stickley, Greene and Greene, and Wright. The Milwaukee also boasts a new wing designed by celebrated architect Santiago Calatrava.

 
Charles Rohlfs images courtesy of the Milwaukee Art Museum

Outside the Ordinary: Contemporary Art in Glass, Wood, and Ceramics
At the Cincinnati Art Museum through September. Featuring glass, wood, and ceramics from the collection of locals Nancy and David Wolf, this exhibit should place the museum on the international map as a focal point for functional art.

Photo credit: Jay Musler, Cityscape, 1981, The Nancy and David Wolf Collection, L24.2008:45

Cleveland Museum of Art
The new 140,000-square-foot East Wing opens this summer, part of a $200 million expansion program. A Gauguin blockbuster is set for October. The museum continues to welcome 500,000 visitors annually.

Grand Rapids Art Museum
The new GRAM was forced to cancel a large Saarinen retrospective scheduled this summer. (Too expensive to mount.) The museum, which opened last year as a case study in architectural sustainability, is countering with Father and Son: Eliel and Eero Saarinen. Smaller, more focused, the unique exhibit is still sure to be a crowd pleaser.

These are not simply “pass-throughs”. All are organized by the museums themselves. Most will include catalogs with online material for those who can’t make the show.

Two additional big-ticket items:

The Art Institute of Chicago’s recently-opened 264,000 square-foot Modern Wing  designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano.

The $45 million Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State in East Lansing. Design is by Zaha Hadid, another Pritzker winner. Groundbreaking has been pushed out from this year until next with opening on track for 2012.

All evidence that when conditions are harsh, art and design become an even more important force to encourage, stimulate, support and inspire, challenging the mundane, particularly, it seems, where the need is great.

By Bill Robinson

June is a beautiful time of year in the Windy City. With the Art Institute’s Modern Wing now open, it’s a perfect time to pay a visit. Designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Renzo Piano, the Modern Wing is the new home for the museum’s collection of 20th- and 21st-century art. It doesn’t just change the look of the Art Institute; the Modern Wing is also a model of design, technology, and green architecture, maximizing natural sources of energy and minimizing waste.

With 264,000 square feet, the Modern Wing adequately accommodates the Art Institute’s collections of modern European painting and sculpture, contemporary art, architecture and design, and photography, making it the second largest art museum in the United States.

Eco-friendly visitors will be pleased to know that an architectural sunshade—or “flying carpet”—saves electricity consumption while filtering daylight into the upper-level gallery spaces. And an interior lighting system automatically adjusts for changing levels of natural light throughout the day. Together, these features provide the perfect atmosphere for observing art in an energy-conscious environment. “It is not enough for the light to be perfect,” says Piano. “You also need calm, serenity, and even a voluptuous quality linked to contemplation of works of art.”

With its double-paned façade of transparent, glazed walls, the Modern Wing meets the appropriate temperature and humidity conditions needed for art and also exceeds the Chicago Energy Conservation Code requirements. Additionally, the Modern Wing utilizes state-of-the-art cooling and monitoring systems.

Outside, gardens and landscaping complement the Modern Wing’s architecture, adding over 20,000 square feet of green space to the museum campus. Several of the public spaces—such as the Nichols Bridgeway, an airy 625-foot pedestrian bridge also designed by Piano—are accessible from Chicago’s Millennium Park and free of charge.

Photo from: The Art Institute of Chicago

Piano is considered the foremost museum architect of our time. Known for his projects around the world, Piano is perhaps most famous for his work with Richard Rogers in the design of the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris. He is also widely regarded for the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. He received the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal Pritzker Prize in 2008.

This summer, check out the Modern Wing. And don’t miss the exhibitions featured in the Abbott Galleries on the first floor of the west pavilion.

Cy Twombly: The Natural World, Selected Works 2000–2007
May 16–September 13, 2009

Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from the Art Institute of Chicago and the St. Louis Art Museum
June 27–September 27, 2009

A Case for Wine: From King Tut to Today
July 11–September 20, 2009

By Marcia Davis