They sold everything from paintings and sculptures to furniture and kaleidoscopes. Attracting art connoisseurs from around the world, the '80s were a heyday for Chicago art galleries. As of 1990, there were 96 listed by the Chicago Artists' Coalition as a resource for artists to pursue the sale of their work.
If you ask local gallery owners in 2010 what they think the state of the industry is, most will tell you it's not doing well, much like the rest of the economy within and without the arts world. Some in the community say Chicago provides a climate that's better than the norm, while others lament that the city just couldn't support the type of art they wanted to pursue. I followed up with all of the galleries that were listed in 1990, to find out what happened to them. They say a gallery's success depends on its location and its specialties.
Explore the database and visualization below to find out the fate of the 96 galleries listed in 1990.
Search the Chicago Art Gallery Persistence Database.
This site is the work of Michelle Minkoff, a graduate student at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. If you have questions or comments, please email me.
Data stored in this database may be downloaded in CSV format here.