Chicago-themed exhibit frames many city images

Iconic images of Chicago include the Sears Tower, Navy Pier and Wrigley Field, but there is more to see in this city than what comes on a postcard.

On display at the Chicago Cultural Center is “Made in Chicago: Photographs from the Bank of America LaSalle Collection,” an exhibit that displays photographs shot in Chicago by local and visiting photographers from 1930 to 2007. The exhibition consists of political scenes, street corners, portraits and abstracts that were all created in Chicago.

The exhibit of nearly 150 photos is a fraction of the Bank’s collection of more than 5,000, but it is the largest ever on display in Chicago. Samuel Sax, president of what was then the Exchange National Bank of Chicago, began the corporate photography collection in 1967. Beaumont and Nancy Newhall were the earliest advisors and purchased the first 350 photos, followed by curators who continued to add to the compilation.

The collection includes a mosaic of images around the city from Chicago native Nathan Lerner’s cakes in a display window of a bakery to Thomas Struth’s elevated train shooting between two skyscrapers.

But there are also pictures that illustrate more than the Second City’s scenery. Robert Sengstacke’s woman walking up steps after sweeping off snow and Ben Gest’s group of people reading the Chicago Tribune over coffee together are only some of the images that deftly depict the people and daily life of the city.

Several photos show picturesque views of the city such as Ruth Thorne-Thomsen’s ethereal 1979 “Expeditions” that shows a paper plane floating over the skyline in the sunset. Jonas Dovydenas’s “Iron Worker” in 1969 gives a human element to an aerial view of the city with a steel worker perched like a bird atop a beam overlooking the city below.

In addition to the city scenery, the exhibit includes images from renowned artists such as Aaron Siskind’s black and white abstracts that resemble Magic Eye pictures and ink blot tests. Arthur Siegal’s “Right of Assembly” from 1939 captures a moment in Chicago’s political history with the entire frame filled with the tops of heads in a crowd.

The photos selected for this exhibit reveal not only the history of the city, but also the history of photography as an art form and the creativity the city spawned and inspired. The collection of these photographs forms an open historical photo album that was long overdue to be shared with the public.

The “Made in Chicago” exhibit is on display through Jan. 4, 2009 at the Chicago Cultural Center Exhibition Hall on 78 E. Washington Street. Visiting hours are Mondays through Thursdays, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Fridays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturdays 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free.

For information about gallery talks for the duration of the exhibit, visit the Chicago Cultural Center.