Paul Gauguin’s Three Tahitian Women.
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Jonny generally leaves the world of cubist and French impressionist art to others, but not this week. Picasso, after all, did design scenery for several theatrical productions (and even wrote one not-very-good play, recently produced in Chicago). And Edgar Degas certainly knew that everything was beautiful at the ballet, especially young girls.
Having made a theatrical connection, Jonny can tell you that the Art Institute of Chicago is home, through May 12, to one of the most astonishing exhibitions of French masterpieces ever assembled under one roof. Organized by the Art Institute of Chicgo (AIC) from its own collections and those of the Metropolitan Museum (New York), the Hermitage (St. Petersburg), the Musee d’Orsay (Paris) and a dozen other museums and private collections, Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde is nothing less than a concentrated swim in the small Parisian pond from which virtually all 20th-century Western art flowed. The 300 paintings, prints, castings and ceramics on display are products of the fecund avant-garde Parisian art scene, circa 1875-1925, and all passed through the hands of the extraordinary art dealer and collector, Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939). Indeed, he commissioned a number of the pieces after establishing himself in Paris in the 1890s.
Vollard had the taste to recognize not just two or three young up-and-comers who made good, but scores of men (although Mary Cassatt also is represented) who now are recognized among the greatest painters of all time, and who worked in a wide range of styles. Vollard promoted to critics and the purchasing public (Gertrude and Leo Stein among them) the works of Cezanne, Matisse, Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Bonnard, Vuillard, Renoir, Roualt, Rousseau, Degas, Picasso, etc. Indeed, modern art as we know it simply would not exist without Vollard’s success as a conduit.
The exhibit astonishes because of the sheer number of great works on display and how jaw-dropping some of them are when viewed up close, such as the coarse brush strokes and thickly-layered paint of Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night;’ the emotional depth and physical size of Picasso’s Blue Period ‘The Old Guitarist;’ or the metaphysical angst of the greatest of Gauguin’s Tahitian works, ‘Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’
Admission to Cezanne to Picasso: Ambroise Vollard, Patron of the Avant-Garde is $18 and by ticket only; call 312-443-3680. A number of free AIC lectures and performances this month and next relate to the exhibit.
Plan now: The inimitable Lily Tomlin will visit Chicagoland in May for one-night stands at three suburban venues. She’s at the Center for the Performing Arts at Governors State University (in far south University Park), Fri., May 11; at the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie, Sat., May 12; and at the Raue Center for the Arts in Crystal Lake, Sun., May 13.
Ms. Tomlin isn’t the only traveling talent around town. ArtReach (sic) Educational Theatre is touring a cabaret show as a troupe fundraiser. Hosted by Miss Sassy Trade, the show features live song-and-dance numbers including tunes from Chicago, Dreamgirls and Rent, plus a Madonna tribute. The show already has played Hunters, Hydrate and Atmosphere. Still to come: Cell Block (this Saturday, March 10), Club Icon (Kenosha, March 31) and The Office (Rockford, April 7).
The Flaming Dames, arguably the world’s greatest (only?) rock ‘n’ roll burlesque troupe, are back at The Spot on Broadway with The Flaming Dames in Talk Dirty to Me, Fridays at 10:30 p.m. through May 25. Written, directed and choreographed by Leslie Kerrigan of the New Millennium Theatre Company, the Flaming Dames promise another head-banging batch of dynamite dance moves, sizzling new babes, bigger hair and bigger attitude. 773-728-8933; $15 (Now, The Spot has booze.)
Chicago Cabaret Professionals (CCP) brings an all-star line-up to its Sunday late-matinee series at Davenport’s, dedicated to the great 20th-century songwriters. Each 5 p.m. show spotlights one composer, as interpreted by a gaggle of our best musicians. This week (March 11) Gail Becker, Anne Burnell, Michelle Greenburg, Tim Hairston, Hillary Hunter, Ava Logan, Layni Katz Myers and musical director Mark Burnell showcase Hoagy Carmichael (Skylark, Georgia on My Mind).
On March 18, there is a tribute to Kurt Weill, with Joan Curto, KT McCammond, Daryl Nitz, Brad Thacker, MaryMonica (sic) Thomas, Robert Whorton and Audrey Morris traversing September Song, The Saga of Jenny and other numbers from Weill’s Berlin and Broadway shows (musical direction by James Cebastian). The series concludes March 25 with Frank Loesser songs. David Edelfelt, Carla Gordon, Joel Kopischke, Tom Michael, Heather Moran and Jeanne Scherkenbach will warble tunes from Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella and the film Hans Christian Anderson (musical direction by Beckie Menzie). 773-278-1830; $15.