Collections

Works on Paper

The Block Museum’s permanent collection, which continues to grow through donations and purchases, includes significant historical and contemporary prints, drawings, and photographs.

Old Master to Nineteenth-Century Prints and Drawings

The Museum’s collection offers a remarkable sampling of the art of European printmaking and drawing over the span of its inception and historic development. Parmigianino, Albrecht Dürer, Vanni, Rembrandt, JMW Turner, William Hogarth and Honoré Daumier are some of the artists represented in our collection.

German School, The Ascension, metalcut in the dotted manner, ca. 1475-80. auctionBLOCK Fund purchase, 2004.7

Modern and Contemporary Prints

The Block’s collection features highlights and imporant milestones of twentieth-and twenty-first-century printmaking by such European and American artists as Max Beckmann, Lovis Corinth, Stuart Davis, Jasper Johns, and Kiki Smith. The collection also includes prints produced under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s and 1940s and is the exclusive archive of the Riverhouse Edition of College Proofs.

Max Beckmann, On the Streetcar, 1922, drypoint. Gift of Pamela and James Elesh, 2003.8. ©Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Reproduction, including downloading of Max Beckmann's works is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Photographs

The photography collection of the Block Museum consists primarily of twentieth-century American works and includes images by independent photographers as well as photojournalists. The largest thematic holding in the collection consists of photographs documenting American life from the 1940s through the present, including the work of W. Eugene Smith, a seminal figure in the development of the photographic essay.

John Collier, Jr., Seabrook Farm, String Beans Waiting at the Packing House, Bridgeton, New Jersey, June, 1942, 1999.11.11.

Griffin Architectural Drawings

The architectural renderings of Walter Burley Griffin and his wife and chief draftsperson Marion Mahony Griffin grace the Block's collection. This archive represents one-third of the Griffin estate and includes numerous plans, stunning ink presentation drawings, and arts and crafts paintings on silk.

Walter Burley Griffin, architect, Marion Mahony Griffin, delineator, H.M. Mess Dwelling, Winnetka, Illinois, 1912, ink on drafting linen. Gift of Marion Mahony Griffin, 1985.1.109.

Henry Simon

The art of Polish-born Henry Simon traces a path through the most important cultural, social, and political developments of the twentieth century. Working in Chicago, Simon witnessed the United States move through World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. The Block’s collections includes sketches, drawings, and paintings Simon created for WPA Projects.

Henry Simon, Escape of Billy the Kid, 1942, lithograph on paper. Gift of Norbert and David Simon, 1997.28.267.

Chicago Artists

The Block focuses on collecting prints by local artists of greater Chicago in order to give deserved attention to this important school of printmaking. The collection features works from 1935 to the present by both renowned and lesser known Chicago artists. Roger Brown, Tony Fitzpatrick, Ellen Lanyon, Jim Nutt, Nancy Spero, and the late Ed Paschke have prints in the collection.