By Patty Enrado, Editor
CHICAGO — Chicago has a number of outdoor works of art that are worth looking up. If you’re planning a walking tour of the city, you may want to connect the dots to these statues and sculptures, with the stamp of approval by HIMSS staff.
Chicago visitors are lucky to be coming in time for the post-renovation unveiling of the Buckingham Fountain (Columbus Drive, 301 East, and Congress Parkway, 500 South, in Grant Park, http://www.cpdit01.com/resources/buckingham_fountain.cfm), which is scheduled for April 1st, according to Racquel Orenick, corporate counsel. One of the largest fountains in the world, it was designed by Edward H. Bennett, built in 1927 and named after Clarence F. Buckingham, whose sister Kate dedicated the fountain to the people of Chicago in memory of her late brother. With a architectural nod to the Latona Basin in Louis XIV’s gardens at Versailles, the fountain represents Lake Michigan with four sea horses, built by Marcel Loyau, to symbolize the four states that border it, namely Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Adam Bazer, manager of Education, recommends checking out the untitled sculpture by Picasso (50 W. Washington St., Richard J. Daley Plaza Civic Center, http://chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com/2007/10/untitled-know-as-picasso.html), which was a gift to Chicago that was installed in 1967 in what used to be the Civic Center Plaza.
The modern statue, constructed out of Corrosive Tensile steel, weighs 162 tons and stretches 50 feet tall. Controversial and much criticized upon its arrival, the statue is now viewed as a masterpiece in Cubism.
If you’re already planning on going to the Art Institute of Chicago (111 S. Michigan Ave., 312.443.3600, http://chicago-outdoor-sculptures.blogspot.com/2007/09/lions-art-institute-of-chicago.html), be sure to pay tribute to the two famous lions flanking the Michigan Avenue entrance, says Sonal Sullivan, program manager of Meeting Services.
Sculpted by Edward Kemeys, the bronze lions were a gift for the Art Institute’s opening in 1893 by Mrs. Henry Field. Deliberately designed to be unidentical, the south lion is described as standing “in an attitude of defiance” and the north lion is “on the prowl.”
If you’re going to Millenium Park, you can kill two birds with one stone and see two famous Chicago sculptures. Tricia Spellman, director of Marketing; Stacy Olson, intern for HIMSS’ Meeting Services; Colleen Naliwajko, Meetings & Exhibit Services coordinator; and Christine Chung, associate of Market Research for HIMSS Analytics, all recommend the “Bean,” (http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/cloud_gate.html) the local name for the Cloud Gate. “It wouldn’t be a trip to Chicago without checking out the ‘Bean’ in Millennium Park,” says Chung. Located at AT&T Plaza on Michigan Avenue, the Bean was designed by British artist Anish Kapoor and completed in 2005. The 110-ton, 66-feet long by 33-feet high structure was forged from stainless steel plates, polished to reflect the city’s skyline and clouds.
Tricia Spellman, director of Marketing, called the Crown Fountain http://www.millenniumpark.org/artandarchitecture/crown_fountain.html at Millenium Park a “must-see.” Completed in 2004 by Spanish artist Jaume Plensa, the Crown Fountain comprises two 50-foot glass block towers displaying rotating video images of 1,000 residents and separated by a shallow pool. Water spouts from the mouths of the faces projected on the LED screens. The fountain anchors the southwest corner of Millennium Park at Michigan Avenue and Monroe Streets.