Synopses & Reviews
While browsing the stacks of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago some years ago, noted historian Neil Harris made a surprising discovery: a group of nine plainly bound volumes whose unassuming spines bore the name the Chicagoan.and#160; Pulling one down and leafing through its pages, Harris was startled to find it brimming with striking covers, fanciful art, witty cartoons, profiles of local personalities, and a whole range of incisive articles.and#160; He quickly realized that he had stumbled upon a Chicago counterpart to the New Yorker that mysteriously had slipped through the cracks of history and memory.and#160;Here Harris brings this lost magazine of the Jazz Age back to life. In its own words, the Chicagoan claimed to represent and#8220;a cultural, civilized, and vibrantand#8221; city and#8220;which needs make no obeisance to Park Avenue, Mayfair, or the Champs Elysees.and#8221; Urbane in aspiration and first published just sixteen months after the 1925 appearance of the New Yorker, it sought passionately to redeem the Windy Cityand#8217;s unhappy reputation for organized crime, political mayhem, and industrial squalor by demonstrating the presence of style and sophistication in the Midwest.and#160; Harrisand#8217;s substantial introductory essay here sets the stage, exploring the ambitions, tastes, and prejudices of Chicagoans during the 1920s and 30s.and#160; The author then lets the Chicagoan speak for itself in lavish full-color segments that reproduce its many elements: from covers, cartoons, and editorials to reviews, featuresand#8212;and even one issue reprinted in its entirety.and#160;Recalling a vivid moment in the life of theand#160;Windy City, the Chicagoan is a forgotten treasure, offered here for a whole new age to enjoy.and#160;
Review
and#8220;Social and cultural scholars will find [
The Chicagoan] a joy, but this primarily pictorial book, with its witty textual nuggets and stylized Art Deco illustrations, will appeal to a nonacademic audience as well. . . . Highly recommended [for] all library collections.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A wonderful and lavish book. . . . well-reproduced and and#160;well-illustrated. The only thing that could top this would be a Nelson Algren renaissance.and#160;and#8212;Robert Birnbaum, themorningnews.com
Review
and#8220;The product of [Neil] Harrisand#8217; years of thorough and thoughtful research, now fashioned into a fantastically hefty volume, a treasure-trove of our cityand#8217;s cultural history. . . . There were no stars at
The Chicagoan. The Second Cityand#8217;s scrappy reputation held firm with the magazineand#8217;s hodgepodge of artists, journalists and academics who filled its pages twice a month (once a month in later years). They remain largely unknown, to this day, though Harris gives them their due, both in his eloquent historical analysis and in an appendix at the end of the book.and#8221;
Review
"Harris's work ably reinstates the Chicagoan and joins the essential literature on the cultural history of Chicago and the graphic art of the period."
Review
"The product of [Neil] Harris' years of thorough and thoughtful research, now fashioned into a fantastically hefty volume, a treasure-trove of our city's cultural history. . . . There were no stars at The Chicagoan. The Second City's scrappy reputation held firm with the magazine's hodgepodge of artists, journalists and academics who filled its pages twice a month (once a month in later years). They remain largely unknown, to this day, though Harris gives them their due, both in his eloquent historical analysis and in an appendix at the end of the book."-Teresa Budasi, Chicago Sun-Times
Review
and#8220;Before the advent of microfiche and electronic records, many smaller-circulation periodicals were inevitably lost to trash heaps and poor preservation methods. The Chicagoan, a colorful Midwestern magazine that was published from 1926 to 1935, was luckily saved from this oblivion by the historian Neil Harris. . . . He has since compiled the periodicaland#8217;s greatest hits into th[is] beautiful and vibrant book.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;How attractive to have this lively and short-lived magazine made accessible and brilliantly contextualized by Neil Harris. Harris is the ideal scholar to explain how the Chicagoan helped to define the city during this era, setting Prohibition and gangland notoriety in counterpoint to stylish innovations in music, art, and architecture. This handsome volume is invaluable to those intrigued by the growth of urban identity and self-awareness during the second quarter of the twentieth century. Although the word and#8216;lifestyleand#8217; did not appear in a dictionary until 1961, The Chicagoan: A Lostand#160;Magazine of the Jazz Age demonstrates just how curious Americans were about matters of lifestyle more than a generation earlier.and#8221;
Review
"Two remarkable facts lie at the heart of this beautiful and revelatory book: that the Chicagoan existed at all, and that its existence has been so completely forgotten. Nothing that I knew of Chicago's cultural life prepared me for Neil Harris's discovery of this wonderfully worldly magazine. And, like him, I cannot figure out why it disappeared from historical memory. We owe Harris great gratitude for resurrecting the Chicagoan for us. . . . His commentary verifies his reputation as one of the most learned and insightful cultural historians at work today, and as an enviably graceful and lucid writer."-Carl Smith, author of The Plan of Chicago: Daniel Burnham and the Remaking of the American City
Review
and#8220;Reading the dusty old mag in this beautiful new book made us nostalgic for an urban culture that we never got to experience.
The Chicagoan was civically engaged in a way publications nowadays rarely are. No compunction exists about taking shots at politicians, making hay about the naming of the Art Institute lions, or moaning about the difficulty of hailing a cab on Michigan Avenue. Though we hardly knew ye,
Chicagoan, youand#8217;re suddenly sorely missed.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Entrepreneurs and journalists dreaming of the next great Chicago magazine will find the
Chicagoan compelling, the writing interesting, the mere fact of its existence perhaps providing succor.and#8221;
Review
“Entrepreneurs and journalists dreaming of the next great Chicago magazine will find the
Chicagoan compelling, the writing interesting, the mere fact of its existence perhaps providing succor.”Micah Maidenburg,
Chicago Journal Review
2009 Choice Outstanding Academic Title
Review
and#8220;Founded in the 1920and#8217;s, the New Yorkerand#160;for almost a century has been one of the most vibrant and important magazines in America.and#160;Little did most of us know, however, that a similar periodical began at almost the same time and seemed to offer the same intellectual liveliness and cultural excitement of its East Coast counterpart.and#160;Neil Harris has recaptured the spirit and story of the Chicagoan in this fresh and colorful book.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Witty, artsy, and slightly snooty . . . . Despite [the editorsand#8217;] frequent protests that [their] city was better than its Al Capone image, the magazine chronicled the doings of Scarface as often as it reviewed opera at Ravinia.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;It gleams. It glitters. It practically shouts, and#8216;Sophistication!and#8217; except for the fact that the truly sophisticated never shout. A silky murmur will do. It was called
The Chicagoan, and from 1926 to 1935 . . . it graced the coffee tables and guided the cultural choices of the cityand#8217;s elite. It was a magazine, but it was more than that, too: It was a mindset. An attitude. A lofty perspective on the passing show. Thanks to the archival detective work of Neil Harris, emeritus professor at the University of Chicago, we can glide our way back to an era when elegance matteredand#8212;not only in dress and deportment, but also in sentence and image. In
The Chicagoan: A Lost Magazine of the Jazz Age . . . a hefty, gorgeous hunk of a book that reproduces one entire issue as well as 149 covers and many articles, a vanished era returns. It comes back in all of its fussy glory, its daffy humor, its gentle insistence that even a city best known for gangsters and stockyards could yearn for beauty and glamour.and#8212;Julia Keller,
Chicago TribuneReview
and#8220;From 1926 to 1935, a group of Midwestern writers, editors, and artists published a magazine strikingly similar to this one. The Chicagoan ran profiles, reviews, and editorials, interspersed with cartoons, and presented breezy dispatches on local events in a section that no one seemed embarrassed to call and#8216;Talk of the Town.and#8217;and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A nine-year wonder. . . . As demonstrated by this elegant collection of covers, illustrations, and stories from the
Chicagoan, in its heyday Chicago was the most stylish, exciting and quintessentially American of all the cities that encircle the United States. The
Chicagoan lasted only nine years, but they were well chosen, from 1926 to 1935, straddling prohibition, the depression and the jazz age. Although deliberately aping the
New Yorker, founded a year earlier, its cover design was entirely its own, a cocktail of art-deco design, slabby poster colours and mordant wit. The sinuous illustrations cascading across the inside pages made it visually far superior to the original . . . . Perhaps it was too beautiful to survive.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Somehow this vibrant magazine was completely forgotten until a few years ago, when the distinguished cultural historian Neil Harris came upon a set of the magazineand#8217;s run in the library of the University of Chicago. It has now been brought back into print, if not to life, by the University of Chicago Press. What a marvelous job they have done! This is a book you will want to own, a coffee-table book nicer and better than most coffee tables. The University of Chicago Press has swung for the fences, producing the book to the highest standardsand#8212;a nearly 400-page oversize volume, designed with care and attentiveness, to period detail and featuring loads of full-color images. Itand#8217;s a pleasure to see the ball sail into the bleachers. . . .Thanks to Neil Harrisand#8217;s serendipitous discovery and the University of Chicago Pressand#8217;s superb effort,
The Chicagoan takes its rightful place on the top shelf.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A testament to serendipity. . . . Harris does a wonderful job of situating the magazine in the urban cacophony of 1920s Chicago, a city at the height of its power.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Capital Culture impresses on several counts. Harris has conducted a deep dive into the papers of Carter Brown and the Brown family; National Gallery of Art records; newspapers and magazine accounts of the period; and numerous interviews with friends and museum colleagues. . . . His organizational skill is praiseworthy: He has shaped this mountain of material into a highly readable, nimble narrative that skillfully segues from one topic to the next.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;J. Carter Brown was one of the most important and charismatic museum directors of the last fifty years. He almost single-handedly invented the idea that the experience of the museum could be as compelling as any work of art in the museum. In his quest to create great exhibitions and acquire singularly important works of art, he transformed the National Gallery of Art into one of America's finest museums, and Neil Harris elegantly traces how he did this. Meticulously researched and thoughtfully written, Capital Culture places Brown in his historical context and reveals the social, political, and economic issues he contended with during his long tenure at the National Gallery. Harris also brings to life the way Brown used his rivalry with Tom Hoving and later Philippe de Montebello at the Metropolitan Museum of Art to animate the National Gallery and make it the cultural center of Washington, and for a time, the nation.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;As director of the National Gallery from 1969 to 1992, Brown not only suited the cultural moment, he helped create it. He made the gallery an internationally respected institution by embracing the idea of art as a public right. In Capital Culture, Harris argues that Brownand#8217;s blend of and#8216;glamour, intellectuality, social privilege, and high-mindednessand#8217; made him the perfect personality to lead museums into a wonderland of glitz, glamour, and enterprise. . . . A thoroughly researched and well-written study of Brown as a remarkable cultural figure.and#8221;
Review
andldquo;J. Carter Brown III was Director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC from 1969 to 1992, and a long-serving chairman of the US Commission of Fine Arts, which oversaw the aesthetics and architecture of the national capital.and#160;Grand, rich, debonair, well-educated and prodigiously well-connected, Carter Brown was the greatest cultural proconsul in the America of his day.and#160;By turns a snob and a showman, a patrician and a popularizer, he brought money and art and exhibitions and people into the National Gallery as never before, and he also left a permanent mark on the fabric of Washington DC.and#160;Neil Harris has written a superb life of this remarkable and sometimes controversial figure: deeply researched, perfectly structured, and beautifully written. The author is as sure-footed in dealing with the fine social gradations of America's upper class as he is in recounting the many triumphs and few failures of Brown's career as an aesthetic impresario. He has written an enthralling book, which is not only a wholly satisfying biography, but also a major contribution to the cultural history of modern America.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;With authority and insight supported by excellent research, Neil Harris narrates the politics and personalities, rivalries and backroom deals, glittering blockbusters and boosterism behind the transformation of the National Gallery from provincial latecomer to major force on the museum scene. A significant contribution to the history of the American museum by one of our leading historians.
andrdquo; Review
and#8220;Providing a broad yet detailed examination of Brownand#8217;s achievements, Harris bases his conclusions upon his deep knowledge of American history and culture, extensive archival research, and interviews with key players. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully written, and well presented, this noteworthy scholarly publication places Brown in historical context and reveals the social, political, and economic issues that he and other museum professionals faced.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;The story of how Brown (1934-2002) helped give Washington the global cultural leadership it deserved is one well worth telling. Now Harris, a cultural and art historian, has written Capital Culture. . . . Harris describes in depth how Brown's preparations for being an art museum director were both unconventional--he earned an M.B.A. from Harvard--and highly traditional.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Harris, the Preston and Sterling Morton Professor of History and Art History Emeritus at the University of Chicago, has written an intensely researched and affectionate history of Brownand#8217;s era at the Gallery and how it changed the world of museum-going forever. It should be difficult to make something as insider baseball-ish as the politics of the museum world seem fascinating and vital, but Harris makes the struggles between Brown and other great museum directors of the time, such as Dillon Ripley, who was making similarly drastic and daring changes at the Smithsonian, and Thomas Hoving, the unrepentantly predatory director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, exciting and sometimes funny.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;In this and#8216;institutional biography,and#8217; Harris views the evolution of the American museum experience through the career of J. Carter Brown, the director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC between 1969 and 2002. . . . By the close of this fine study, one canand#8217;t but enjoy the gorgeous incongruity of Brownand#8217; populism.and#8221;
Synopsis
While browsing the stacks of the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago some years ago, noted historian Neil Harris made a surprising discovery: a group of nine plainly bound volumes whose unassuming spines bore the name the Chicagoan. Pulling one down and leafing through its pages, Harris was startled to find it brimming with striking covers, fanciful art, witty cartoons, profiles of local personalities, and a whole range of incisive articles. He quickly realized that he had stumbled upon a Chicago counterpart to the New Yorker that mysteriously had slipped through the cracks of history and memory. Here Harris brings this lost magazine of the Jazz Age back to life. In its own words, the Chicagoan claimed to represent “a cultural, civilized, and vibrant” city “which needs make no obeisance to Park Avenue, Mayfair, or the Champs Elysees.” Urbane in aspiration and first published just sixteen months after the 1925 appearance of the New Yorker, it sought passionately to redeem the Windy Citys unhappy reputation for organized crime, political mayhem, and industrial squalor by demonstrating the presence of style and sophistication in the Midwest. Harriss substantial introductory essay here sets the stage, exploring the ambitions, tastes, and prejudices of Chicagoans during the 1920s and 30s. The author then lets the Chicagoan speak for itself in lavish full-color segments that reproduce its many elements: from covers, cartoons, and editorials to reviews, featuresand even one issue reprinted in its entirety. Recalling a vivid moment in the life of the Windy City, the Chicagoan is a forgotten treasure, offered here for a whole new age to enjoy.
Synopsis
A new book by Neil Harris is always an event, and
Capital Culture will be no different. In this monumental and very readable book, Harris brings to life J. Carter Brown, Washingtonandrsquo;s National Gallery, and the cultural life of the national capital. Brown was the longest-serving director of the National Gallery (1969-1992), and his tenure had important consequences not just for that institution but for the American museum world as a whole. In telling this story, Harris leads readers to consider the role of powerful and charismatic cultural leaders, the relationship between politics and art, the birth of blockbuster exhibits such as the King Tut shows of 1976, and much else. The book is filled with many colorful characters aside from Brownandmdash;Smithsonian director Dillon Ripley, for instance, and J. Paul Getty appear throughout these pages. As with all of Harrisandrsquo;s books, the research is deep and impeccable: he draws on interviews (with Brown, Ripley, and many others), on archival material, and on a lifetime of reading in American history and culture. The writing, too, justifies Harrisandrsquo;s place as one of the most important and influential cultural historians of the last fifty years.
Synopsis
American art museums flourished in the late twentieth century, andand#160;the impresario leading much of this growth was J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from 1969 to 1992.and#160;and#160;Along with S. Dillon Ripley, who served as Smithsonian secretary for much of this time, Brown reinvented the museum experience in ways that had important consequences for the cultural life of Washington and its visitors as well as for American museums in general. In
Capital Culture, distinguished historian Neil Harris provides a wide-ranging look at Brownand#8217;s achievement and the growth of museum culture during this crucial period.
Harris combines his in-depth knowledge of American history and culture with extensive archival research, and he has interviewed dozens of key players to reveal how Brownand#8217;s showmanship transformed the National Gallery. At the time of the Cold War, Washington itself was growing into a global destination, with Brown as its devoted booster.and#160;Harris describes Brownand#8217;s major role in the birth of blockbuster exhibitions, such as the King Tut show of the late 1970s and the National Galleryand#8217;s immensely successful Treasure Houses of Britain, which helped inspire similarly popular exhibitions around the country. He recounts Brownand#8217;s role in creating the award-winning East Building by architect I. M. Pei and the subsequent renovation of the West building. Harris also explores the politics of exhibition planning, describing Brown's courtship of corporate leaders, politicians, and international dignitaries.
In this monumental book Harris brings to life this dynamic era and exposes the creation of Brown's impressive but costly legacy, one that changed the face of American museums forever.
About the Author
Neil Harris is the Preston and Sterling Morton Professor of History and Art History Emeritus at the University of Chicago.and#160;He is the author of several books, includingand#160;The Artist in American Society; Humbug: The Art of P. T. Barnum; Cultural Excursions: Marketing Appetites and Cultural Tastes in Modern America; andand#160; Chicago Apartments: A Century of Lakefront Luxury.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Becoming Carter Brown
Chapter 2and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The National Gallery: Directions and Deviations
Chapter 3and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Stalking the Prey: The Quest for Old Masters
Chapter 4and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Secretary Arrives: Dillon Ripley and the Smithsonian Challenge
Chapter 5and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Reinventing the National Gallery: Creating the East Building
Chapter 6and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; and#147;What Hath Brown Wrought?and#8221;
Chapter 7and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Presenting King Tutand#160;
Chapter 8and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Trouble in Paradise: The Light That Failed
Chapter 9and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Exhibiting Strategiesand#160;
Chapter 10and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; The Secretary Carries On: Consolidating Dillon Ripleyand#8217;s Administration
Chapter 11and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Minister of Culture: Shaping Washington
Chapter 12and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; and#147;Treasure Houses of Britainand#8221;: The Anatomy of an Exhibition
Chapter 13and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Campaigns and Conquests
Chapter 14and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Goodbye Columbus: Celebrating the Quincentenary
Chapter 15and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Retirement Projectsand#160;and#160;and#160;
Postscript
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index