Two Fall Exhibits at the American Writers Museum
Chicago--The American Writers Museum (AWM) will open two new special exhibits this fall in its changing galleries: Captured Stories: American Writers Through the Lens of Art Shay showcasing Shay’s landmark images of Nelson Algren and other notable writers, and Laura Ingalls Wilder: From Prairie to Page focusing on Wilder’s lifelong relationship with language and writing that shaped her Little House series.
Featured in the Meijer Gallery October 27, 2017 - March 31, 2018, Captured Stories is a collection of American writer portraits by award-winning photojournalist Art Shay, the author of nearly 70 books. For more than 50 years, Shay’s photographs recorded the bombast and energy of postwar America, finding unique angles on the moments and personalities for magazines such as Life, Time, Ebony and Sports Illustrated. But Shay started out as a reporter and he shot with a writer’s eye; his images are stories just waiting to be told. It’s not surprising that he captured the literary world with such unusual sensitivity and insight, from the clarity in the eyes of Gwendolyn Brooks and the weary look of an aging Ernest Hemingway, to Allen Ginsberg teaching a rapt crowd in Grant Park during the 1968 Democratic Convention. A world-class street photographer, Shay wandered countless miles throughout the 1950s exploring Chicago with author and close friend Nelson Algren. On October 29, 2017, Shay will join Gordon Parks, Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Klein as winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Lucie Foundation.
Special programs offered in conjunction with Captured Stories are gallery talks about the writers featured in the exhibit; Gwendolyn Brooks by Quraysh Ali Lansana of Our Miss Brooks 100 & Revise the Psalm on Saturday, November 18, Ernest Hemingway by Nancy Sindelar of The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park on Saturday, December 9, and Nelson Algren by Sue Rutsen of the Nelson Algren Museum of Miller Beach on Saturday, January 13. Gallery talks are from noon to 12:30 p.m. and are free with museum admission.
Featured in the Roberta Rubin Writer’s Room November 18, 2017 - February 1, 2018, Laura Ingalls Wilder: From Prairie to Page details Wilder’s lifetime of writing and explores various themes including Educated on the Move, which shows how the formal and informal education young Laura Ingalls received shaped the style of her writing, subject matter, and the values embedded in the Little House series. The popularity of the novels shaped American understanding of the time period, but often obscured the real woman behind the books. The first book in the Little House series was published when Wilder was 65 years old, but she had been writing since her adolescence. The exhibit will display the longhand manuscript of The Long Winter from the Detroit Public Library, reproduced typed Long Winter pages with handwritten notes by Laura Ingalls Wilder, merchandise, and memorabilia contributed by AWM Affiliates, Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Walnut Grove in Walnut Grove, Minnesota and Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum in Mansfield, Missouri.
Museum admission includes special exhibits and programs. For tickets and more information, please visit americanwritersmuseum.org/visit.
