Thursday evening

· Vernissage: Navy Pier Art Fair gala (for those in a festive, dress-up mood, with $125. /person to benefit the Museum of Contemporary Art). The Opening night celebration of this important art fair, drawing dealers from all over the world to Chicago, features fabulous hors d’oeuvres, open bars, entertainment, and the exclusive opportunity to be among the first to preview and purchase art from prestigious international galleries. The Art Fair continues through the weekend.

Friday

· Art Institute of Chicago – Laurel Bradley’s personal favorites from the 19th and 20th century collections. Beginning with JMW Turner’s sublime seascape, we will “tour” 19th century art, stopping to admire Monet’s Haystacks, and George Seurat’s Neo-Impressionist masterpiece, Sunday Afternoon on the Grand Jatte before sampling Modernist experiments by Picasso, Matisse, and other pioneers in the 20th century march of ‘isms. Free time to take in aspects of the collection. Option: Special exhibition Rembrandt’s Journey: Painter, Draftsman, Etcher.

· Chicago Architectural Boat Tour

Saturday

· Museum of Contemporary Art: Some comments on the building and the permanent collection. Lee Bontecou exhibition: Walkthrough with commentary. Lee Bontecou left the “art world” and retreated to rural Pennsylvania in the early 1970s despite great critical accolades for her sculptural reliefs. This exhibition re-presents this important woman artist and displays work from the last thirty years. (See September 2003 ArtNews article)

· Downtown Walking Tour highlighting architecture and outdoor sculpture. Encounter important buildings which contribute to the city’s reputation as an architectural mecca and public sculptures by Picasso, Miro, Dubuffet and others.

· Illinois Institute of Technology campus tour. The original complex of buildings, “classic” modernist structures designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1945-60) has been recently enriched by a new student residence by Helmut Jahn and the brand new campus center by Rem Koolhaas. Topped by a 530 foot long stainless steel clad tube (“innovative technological concept for a train enclosure”) which doubles as a train station, the campus center is the first completed building in North America by this Dutch architect and Pritzker Prize winner.