Audio Guide for Chicago Avant-Garde
Welcome to the audio guide for Chicago Avant-Garde, on view at the Newberry Library from September 10 – December 30, 2021. Scroll down to get started, or use the menu in the upper-right of the screen to jump to a specific section.
Mapping Connections
This exhibit tells the stories of five women who helped transform Chicago into a center of artistic innovation.
They established schools and galleries, organized salons, performances and poetry competitions that provided valuable artistic opportunities for both African Americans and women.
Modernism in the Midwest
Paris and New York are often seen as hotbeds of artistic modernism.
But there was also a rich network of avant-garde artists in Chicago.
Together they created a unique midwestern modernism.
Five Women Ahead of Their Time
Select an artist to learn about the five boundary-pushing women at the center of Chicago Avant-Garde.
Katharine
Kuh
(1904-1994)
Art Curator
Katherine Dunham
(1909-2006)
Dancer
Gertrude Abercrombie
(1907-1977)
Painter
Gwendolyn Brooks
(1917-2000)
Poet
Ruth
Page
(1899-1991)
Dancer
This audio guide was produced by graduate students from the University of Chicago: Fiona Maxwell, Sanjukta Poddar, Cecilia Ringo, Lindsay Apperson, Luiza Osorio G. Silva, & Richard S. Young. Thank you to The Studs Terkel Radio Archive, The Red Clay Dance Company, and The South Side Community Arts Center for interviews and audio material.