The South Side Community Art Center is a community art center in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

that opened in 1940 with support from the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

Federal Art Project The Federal Art Project (1935–1943) was a New Deal program to fund the visual arts in the United States. Under national director Holger Cahill, it was one of five Federal Project Number One projects sponsored by the Works Progress Administrati ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. Opened in Bronzeville in an 1893 mansion, it became the first black art museum in the United States and has been an important center for the development Chicago's

African American art African-American art is a broad term describing visual art created by African Americans — Americans who also identify as Black. The range of art they have created, and are continuing to create, over more than two centuries is as varied as the ...

ists. Of more than 100 community art centers established by the WPA, this is the only one that remains open. The center was awarded

Chicago Landmark Chicago Landmark is a designation by the Mayor and the City Council of Chicago for historic sites in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Listed sites are selected after meeting a combination of criteria, including historical, economic, archite ...

status in 1994. Named a "National Treasure" by the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

in 2017, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2018.

History

Eleanor-Roosevelt-South-Side-Art-Center-1941

Efforts to open a community art center on Chicago's South Side began in 1938. Peter Pollack, a

official, contacted Metz Lochard, an editor at the

Chicago Defender ''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...

, about having the Art Project sponsor exhibitions of African American artists, who often had trouble securing space to display their work. Pollack, an art dealer, owned a gallery on Michigan Avenue in Chicago's Loop and had previously displayed the work of African American artists. Lochard arranged a meeting between Pollack and Pauline Kigh Reed, a social worker with extensive connections in the community, and, according to Reed's recollection, she suggested founding an art center. Reed helped arrange an initial meeting with area artists at the South Side Settlement House at 32nd Street and Wabash Avenue. Businessman Golden Darby, chairman of the board of the Settlement House, became chair of the Sponsoring Committee of the proposed South Side Community Art Center. Darby chaired the first official meeting of the Sponsoring Committee on October 25, 1938 at the offices of the Chicago Urban League. In addition to Darby, Pollack, and other organizers of the Sponsoring Committee, the meeting was attended by members of the Arts Crafts Guild, a group of Chicago-based African American artists organized in 1932 which included

Margaret Taylor-Burroughs Margaret Taylor-Burroughs (November 1, 1915 – November 21, 2010), also known as Margaret Taylor Goss, Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs or Margaret T G Burroughs, was an American visual artist, writer, poet, educator, and arts organizer. She co-fo ...

Eldzier Cortor Eldzier Cortor (January 10, 1916 – November 26, 2015) was an African-American artist and printmaker. His work typically features elongated nude figures in intimate settings, influenced by both traditional African art and European surrealism ...

, Bernard Goss, Charles White, William Carter, Joseph Kersey, and

Archibald Motley Archibald John Motley, Jr. (October 7, 1891 – January 16, 1981), was an American visual artist. He studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago during the 1910s, graduating in 1918. Motley is most famous for his colorful chroni ...

Jr. George G. Thorpe, the State Director of the Federal Art Project of Illinois, informed the group that the FAP's community art center program would provide an administrative staff, faculty, and renovation funds for a center if the community could raise funds for the purchase of a building and the costs of utilities and supplies. The following year was spent organizing and raising funds for the center, with efforts ranging from membership drives and street corner collections (including Margaret Burroughs's famous "Mile of Dimes" on South Parkway, (now Martin Luther King Drive) to benefit parties and lectures by speakers including

Augusta Savage Augusta Savage (born Augusta Christine Fells; February 29, 1892 – March 27, 1962) was an American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. She was also a teacher whose studio was important to the careers of a generation of artists who w ...

. The most successful of these events, the Artists' and Models' Ball held at the Savoy Ballroom on October 23, 1939, became an annual tradition. Among its alumni are Charles White,

Bernard Goss Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

, George Neal,

Gordon Parks Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and film director, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particu ...

, Richard Hunt and

Margaret Burroughs Margaret Taylor-Burroughs (November 1, 1915 – November 21, 2010), also known as Margaret Taylor Goss, Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs or Margaret T G Burroughs, was an American visual artist, writer, poet, educator, and arts organizer. She co-fo ...

Building

Completed in 1893, at 3831 S. Michigan Avenue, the

Georgian Revival Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I, George II, Georg ...

-style building designed by architect L. Gustav Hallberg, originally served as a residence for

grain merchant The grain trade refers to the local and international trade in cereals and other food grains such as wheat, barley, maize, and rice. Grain is an important trade item because it is easily stored and transported with limited spoilage, unlike other ...

George A. Seaverns Jr. In 1940, the by then vacant

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

building was selected as the site for the planned community art center and was purchased for about $8,000 with funds raised by the community.Knupfer, p. 67. The building is sometimes referred to as the Comiskey Mansion,Cohn, p. 109. and it was described as the former home of

Charles Comiskey Charles Albert Comiskey (August 15, 1859 – October 26, 1931), nicknamed "Commy" or "The Old Roman", was an American Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League, and was also ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

in her newspaper column after she took part in the dedication of the South Side Community Art Center. According to UNCAP, the Uncovering New Chicago Archives Project, the house belonging to Comiskey was further south on Michigan Avenue. The community paid for the lease and purchase of the building, for utilities, and for art supplies. The federal government helped to stimulate the establishment of the center via support from the Works Progress Administration's

. They provided administrative funds for staff and faculty and funds for the remodeling of the building. The interior was remodeled in the

New Bauhaus Institute of Design (ID) at the Illinois Institute of Technology (Illinois Tech), founded as the New Bauhaus, is a graduate school teaching systemic, human-centered design. History The Institute of Design at Illinois Tech is a school of design ...

-style by Hin Bredendieck and Nathan Lerner and the centre opened unofficially for its first classes on December 15, 1940. The opening was accompanied by an inaugural exhibition of paintings by local black artists including Charles Davis, Charles White, Bernard Goss, William Carter,

, Charles Sebree,

Jr., amongst others. The interracial faculty of art instructors included Davis, White, Goss, Carter,

Morris Topchevsky Morris Topchevsky (1899-1947) was a Chicago-based social realism, social realist artist. Biography Morris Topchevsky was born in Białystok, Poland (then a part of Russia) and immigrated to Chicago, Illinois with his family in 1910 to escape ...

, Si Gordon, Max Kahn, and

Todros Geller Todros Geller (Yiddish: טודרוס געלער; July 1, 1889 – February, 23 1949) was a Jewish American artist and teacher best known as a master printmaker and a leading artist among Chicago's art community. Early life and education Gel ...

.Cohn, p. 110. Lessons were free and included oil painting, drawing, composition, water color, sculpture, lithography, poster design, fashion illustration, interior decoration, silk screen, weaving, and hooked rug-making. By March 1941, 13,500 people had attended classes, exhibitions, and events at the center.

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

dedicated the facility May 7, 1941, in a ceremony that broadcast nationwide on

CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...

Landmark status

The center earned

status on June 16, 1994. In 2017, the center was named a "National Treasure" by the

. The building was listed on the

in 2018.

Notes

References

* * *Anna M. Tyler, "Planting and Maintaining a 'Perennial Garden,' Chicago's South Side Community Art Center" INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF AFRICAN AMERICAN ART (11:4), 1994

External links

Official siteArchives of the SSCAC
Smithsonian Institution
South Side Community Art Center Digital Collection
- UChicago Library
South Side Community Art Center
National Trust for Historic Preservation
South Side Community Art Center
video, WTTW Chicago {{Authority control African-American history in Chicago Douglas, Chicago Houses completed in 1893 Buildings and structures in Chicago Chicago Landmarks Georgian Revival architecture in Illinois Works Progress Administration in Illinois Federal Art Project Arts centers in Illinois Art museums and galleries in Chicago Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Cultural centers in Chicago