Batcolumn, 1977 Claes Oldenburg Plaza of Harold Washington Social Security Administration Building 600 West Madison Street              In 1965, Pop artist Claes Oldenburg (1929-2022) began making drawings for colossal monuments consisting of everyday objects enlarged to gargantuan proportions. Some of his proposals included a giant electric fan to replace the Statue of Liberty, a pair of giant scissors to replace the Washington Monument, a Good Humor ice cream bar for Park Avenue, New York, and a railroad station in the form of a ..read more

Abraham Lincoln, the Head of State (Seated Lincoln), 1908 (installed 1926) Augustus Saint-Gaudens Grant Park Court of Presidents North of Congress Parkway near Columbus Drive             Depicting a deeply thoughtful and isolated leader, the work commonly described as the “Seated Lincoln” is the second portrait of the sixteenth president located in Chicago completed by sculptor AugustusSaint-Gaudens. Although the “Standing Lincoln” in Lincoln Park is better known and more critically acclaimed, the sculptor believed this one more success ..read more

Bust of Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable, 2009 Erik Blome Pioneer Court  Michigan Avenue at the Chicago River northeast side of Michigan Avenue Bridge Haitian-born Jean Baptiste Pointe DuSable (1745-1818) was recognized by the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago in 1968 as the first known settler in area and the founder of the city.  In the 1770s, DuSable, a fur trader, opened the first trading post on what would later be named the Chicago River. The bust is located close to the site of the Pointe DuSable House, designated a National Historic Landmark by the United States of the ..read more

Cloud Gate (“The Bean”), 2004 Anish Kapoor Millennium Park East of North Michigan Avenue, on axis with East Washington Street             Often it is difficult to predict how the public will respond to an innovative, large-scale work of art. It is even more difficult to imagine which work of public art, among the many located in a place like Chicago, might emerge as the “icon” of the city. Following the opening of Millennium Park, the one thing about which most Chicagoans would agree is that Cloud Gate, better known locally as “The Bea ..read more

Untitled (The Picasso), 1967 Pablo Picasso Richard J. Daley Plaza Washington Street between Dearborn and Clark Streets             Representing a major step in bringing contemporary art into a civic space, The Picasso was unveiled on August 15, 1967 to equal amounts of fanfare and skepticism. Thousands attended the dedication, which began with the first-ever outdoor performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and included a reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Mayor Richard J. Daley pulled the white ribbon that rem ..read more

The Flight of Daedalus and Icarus, 1991 Roger Brown 120 North LaSalle Building In Greek mythology, Daedalus, a very skilled Athenian artisan, was called upon by King Minos of Crete to build a labyrinth to confine the dreaded Minotaur, a half-bull and half-man monster. Instead, Daedalus helps a young hero escape from the monster and the angered king imprisons him and his son Icarus in the labyrinth. To escape, Daedalus makes wings of wax for himself and his son, and he warns his son not to fly too low because they will get wet from the waves of the sea and not to fly too high. However, Icar ..read more

Alexander Hamilton Memorial, 1940 John Angel Lincoln Park North Stockton Drive at North Cannon Drive Philanthropist and art patron Kate Sturges Buckingham (1858 – 1937) , best known for her donation of the Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain to the city, considered Alexander Hamilton “one of the least appreciated great Americans.” It was her belief that the first Secretary of the Treasury was responsible for securing the nation’s financial future, hence making it possible for her family to make its fortune in grain elevators and banking.  In 1928, she established a fund and pledge ..read more

William Shakespeare Monument, 1894 William Ordway Partridge Lincoln Park West of North Stockton Avenue on axis with West Belden Avenue             After winning the competition to create a memorial to William Shakespeare (1564-1616), artist and one-time actor William Ordway Partridge (1861-1930) devoted himself to researching the Bard’s life, the customs of Elizabethan England, the available portraits of Shakespeare, including a death mask, and the type of costume that would be appropriate for his portrait. Funded by north side business ..read more

Fountain of Time, 1922 Lorado Taft Washington Park, west end of Midway Plaisance 5900 South Cottage Grove Avenue Located in Washington Park, a 367-acre expanse designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Lorado Taft’s Fountain of Time is the only realized portion of his grand beautification scheme for the Midway Plaisance, a mile-long and 220 yard-wide area linking Washington and Jackson Parks on Chicago’s south side. Originally, he envisioned an equally monumental “Fountain of Creation” to be erected on the east end of the Midway, consisting of figures emerging from the earth, acting out the Gree ..read more

Eternal Silence: Dexter Graves Monument, 1909 Lorado Taft Southeastern section Graceland Cemetery 4001 North Clark Street             Dexter Graves (1789-1844) was a hotel owner and one of first settlers in the area, bringing a colony of 13 families to Chicago from Ohio in 1831. This bronze figure, 8 feet high and standing against a polished black granite backdrop, was commissioned by Graves’ son, Henry, to mark the site of his father’s burial. Taft’s approach to the work signals his awareness of innovative funerary art, such as the Ada ..read more