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Monday 9:30am - 4:30pm Tuesday 9am - 4:30pm Wednesday 9am - 4:30pm Thursday 9am - 4:30pm Friday 9:30am - 4:30pm

Madron Gallery

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Madron Gallery

Madron is a gallery of American art. Paintings, drawings, photographs, and sculptures from 19th-century Impressionism through 20th-century Modernism.

08/27/2026

On view in our From the Archives: Works on Paper exhibition:
"Self Portrait at 55 East Division Street" by Ivan Albright"

By 1947, Chicago artist Ivan Albright's career was already on the rise. Just a few years earlier in 1943 he began work on his famous titular portrait for MGM’s 1945 feature “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” The painting would draw large crowds when it found a permanent home at the Art Institute of Chicago later that year. In 1946 he married the wealthy newspaper heiress, philanthropist, and aviator Josephine Medill Patterson, and the two moved to 55 East Division. We see hints of their new home in the background of his self portrait. Ivan represents himself with the same macabre focus on mortality defined the rest of his work. Before him a decaying vanitas still-life serves as a further reminder of life's fleeting nature.

Ivan Le Lorraine Albright, "Self Portrait at 55 East Division Street," 1947, Lithograph on paper, 22.25 x 18.25 inches (framed size)

08/26/2026

Historically, American burlesque originated as a comedy show, often presenting parody of well-known plays or popular culture. In the 1890s, however, burlesque troupes began offering either “clean shows” or “hot shows.” Do you want to guess which one eventually proved more profitable?

At the famous 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, along with the advent of the Ferris Wheel, audiences could also see the "cooch dance" for the first time. Burlesque in the 1930s hit its peak and was a popular subject for artists, including Aaron Bohrod in Chicago and Reginald Marsh in New York City. The shows offered these painters drama, grit, and, of course, nudity.

Aaron Bohrod, "Chicago Burlesque," 1933, Gouache on paper, 12 x 17.5 inches

Reginald Marsh, "Burlesque Dancer," 1944, Chinese ink and watercolor on paper, 22 x 30.5 inches

08/13/2026

Soon after Robert and Bessie Potter Vonnoh purchased an old house in Pleasant Valley near Hamburg Cove, they started regularly exhibiting with the Lyme Art Association. You can learn a lot about where a work has been (provenance) from its verso.

Robert Vonnoh, "Mist Rising up from the River," c. 1925,
Oil on board, 11.75 x 9 inches

08/10/2026

The Vonnohs first visited the artist colony centered at Florence Griswold's boardinghouse in Lyme, Connecticut in 1905. In 1916, the couple purchased a large property with an old house nearby and began exhibiting work with the Lyme Art Association.

In Robert's painting "Lingering Rain, Moon and Eventide," he depicts his and Bessie's home. A creek runs from the foreground, leading the viewer to the light-colored house, which stands out against the trees and moonlit sky.

Robert Vonnoh, "Lingering Rain, Moon, and Eventide,"
oil on canvas, 25 x 30 1/4 inches, after 1905

Photograph from Bessie Potter Vonnoh papers,
Smithsonian Archives of American Art

08/04/2026

Edna Boies Hopkins’ “Petunia” print can be seen as an advertisement, an illustration of the artist’s entrepreneurship and marketing. With her business savvy on full display, Hopkins offered mail-order, handprinted, signed by the artist, limited-edition prints at a higher sale price.

Read more about Hopkins’ petunia in our July newsletter (link in the bio).

Edna Boies Hopkins, “Petunia,” c.1907-1908,
Color woodblock print, 6 15/16 x 4 5/8 inches.
Image courtesy of Madron Gallery

07/08/2026

This little watercolor and gouache remained in the artist’s collection until after his death in 1954, eventually sold alongside a few other works to a private collector in Los Angeles. Perhaps it was saved as a study, or the intimate piece held some significance for Parker. The work on paper somehow survived his frequent moves between Chicago, New York, and Paris, as well as the fire that destroyed his studio in Giverny during World War II.

Lawton Parker, "Summer Garden," c. 1915,
13.5 x 9.75 in., Watercolor and gouache on paper

07/02/2026

Happy 4th of July!

Madron will be closed July 2 - 5 in observance of the holiday.

Jane Peterson's panorama could easily be a Chicago beach this weekend!

Jane Peterson (1876-1965), "Beach Scene #2,"
c. 1920, Oil on canvas board, 12x16 inches

06/30/2026

Painting women with parasols was common among the Giverny group, influenced by Monet’s earlier works like "Woman with a Parasol – Madame Monet and Her Son" and remnants of the craze for Japanese art and design that was sparked among the French Impressionists like Monet, Mary Cassatt, and Edgar Degas, in the late 19th-century.

Read more about Buehr's languid beauty in our June newsletter (link in the bio).

Karl A. Buehr (1866-1952), "Woman with Parasols," c.1914,
oil on canvas, 13.5 x 10 inches

06/25/2026

⬅ For sculpture in the round

On tip toe, the figure in Harriet Whitney Frishmuth’s “The Vine,” stretches up and back in a dramatic backbend, mirroring a living vine. The posture of ecstasy perhaps an allusion to the revelers of Dionysus, the god of wine.

In the early 1900s, Frishmuth studied sculpture in Paris under Auguste Rodin. During this period, sculptors such as Rodin and Camille Claudel were deeply inspired by new forms of choreography. Although Frishmuth studied with Rodin briefly, she adopted his emphasis on starting from the outline and implying motion through expressive modeling.

Frishmuth was well known for collaborating with professional dancers, and the model for “The Vine,” Desha Delteil, was one of her most frequent subjects, posing for thirty-three of her works. Delteil was a skilled dancer with the Fokine Ballet; while the company was rooted in classical technique, its choreography emphasized dramatic, liberating movement. Although the figure holds a difficult pose, the silhouette reflects a sense of ease and rapture.

Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, “The Vine,” 1921,
Bronze, 11.5 x 0.75 inches

06/23/2026

Emma Burbank married Edward Ayer in 1865. She was a formidable partner to the railroad tie manufacturer, as an avid reader and adventurer. The couple traveled extensively, with Emma planning expeditions to Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Finding information on these locales lacking, in 1911, she published a book on North Africa, titled, “A Motor Trip Flight Through Algeria and Tunisia,” which featured her own photographs and ethnological research. She would also become one of the first non-native women to descend into the Grand Canyon; Ayer Point was named in her honor.

The Ayers amassed a large collection of rare books and artifacts, making substantial donations to cultural institutions and serving as founding members of both the Newberry Library and the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago.

Robert Reid’s portrait hints at Emma's wealth in her necklace and ring, her beauty equated to the floral bouquet she cradles in her arm, but it's in his brushstrokes that we see a reflection of the dynamic woman. Leaving open canvas, room to move, unfixed on the page.

Robert Reid (1862–1929), "Emma Burbank Ayer," 1897,
oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches. Check her out on Artsy: https://tinyurl.com/Emma-Burbank-Ayer

Address

1000 W North Avenue
Chicago, IL
60642

Opening Hours

Monday	9:30am - 4:30pm
Tuesday	9am - 4:30pm
Wednesday	9am - 4:30pm
Thursday	9am - 4:30pm
Friday	9:30am - 4:30pm

Telephone

(312) 640-1302

Website

http://www.madrongallery.com/

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