The Tamesis
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago acquired some notable works of art in 2025, including a striking portrait of 20th-century Austrian composer Josef Matthias Hauer by New Objectivist painter Christian Schad (the first of his portraits owned by a U.S. museum), a painting of Glacier National Park by Kay WalkingStick, and a self-portrait by Belgian artist Léon Spilliaert.
Spilliaert’s painting was purchased at the Spring Art Fair of the European Fine Arts Foundation (TEFAF) in Maastricht. Jay A. Clarke, AIC Curator of Prints and Drawings, tells us art news The museum has been searching for Spilliat’s work for ten years. “We have passed on several paintings over the years, awaiting the great work of 1907 or 1908, and this haunting and powerful self-portrait was certainly worth the wait.”
Other highlights include Frans Frankken II Esther before Ahasuerus1622, depicting the biblical heroine begging her husband King Ahasuerus to spare the Jewish people, and an “extremely rare” mid-17th century textile from the Tamil Nadu region of India. Hand-painted and dyed cotton hangings tell the story of court life during the Nayaka dynasty. Sarah Kelly Oehler, vice president of curatorial strategy at the AIC, told WBEZ Chicago, “There are only a few known. The scale is huge. The conditions are amazing.”
