Gilded Chicago: Portraits of an Era

The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago September 2018 — January 2019

The rising wealth of Chicago’s moneyed banking and industrialist families spurred a resurgence of portraiture during the Gilded Age. Prominent citizens from the McCormick, Field, Pullman, and Patterson families secured highly regarded French and American portraitists, including Léon Bonnat, Carolus-Duran, Eastman Johnson, and William Merritt Chase to imbue their likenesses with grandeur, wit, and intelligence. Gilded Chicago: Portraits of an Era featured highlights from Chicago-area collections and was installed in the museum’s sculpture gallery.

I located the paintings for the exhibition from public collections in the Chicago area and installed them in the sculpture gallery on the Museum’s first floor.