THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO 111 South Michigan Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60603-3110 tel: (312) 443-3600; fax: (312) 443-0849 internet: www.artic.edu
		• Yasuhiro Ishimoto: A Tale of Two Cities May 8 - September 12, 1999
			This exhibition celebrates the work of Yasuhiro Ishimoto, who, in 1997, was named a "Person of Cultural Distinction" by the Japanese Emperor––an honor that confers a lifetime fellowship in recognition of extraordinary achievement in the arts. Ishimoto's genius for his medium ranges from the purely intuitive street photography of Tokyo and Chicago found in his work since his first book, Someday, Somewhere (1958), to the more meditative vision apparent in the recent studies of footprints in snow and fallen, decaying leaves that received an exhibition in 1996 at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo. A 144-page publication featuring both color and duotone photographs is scheduled to be published in conjunction with the exhibition. The exhibition will travel to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Houston, Texas (October 17, 1999 - January 2, 2000). See also: NEW BOOKS
		• The Pritzker Architecture Prize 1979 - 1999 Through September 26, 1999 (Kisho Kurokawa Gallery of Architecture)
			This exhibition focuses on some of the architecture world's greatest contemporary practitioners and celebrates what has come to be considered the world's most highly regarded architecture award - often described as the "Nobel of architecture" because of its importance, method of jury selection, and monetary gift. With a lively range of architectural drawings, models, photographs, and plans, the exhibit examines the work of the 22 laureates beginning with Phillip Johnson, in 1979, and including Ieoh Ming Pei, in 1983, Kenzo Tange, in 1987, and Fumihiko Maki, in 1993. Seen together, the various works illustrate different approaches to the built environment and documents exhibited alongside them show the varied tools that the architects utilize. A catalogue of the exhibition entitled The Pritzker Architecture Prize: The First Twenty Years is available and features highlights of Ieoh Ming Pei's "Grand Louvre," Kenzo Tange's "City Hall Complex, Tokyo," and Fumihiko Maki's "Kaze-no-Oka Crematorium" in Nakatsu. Also featured are Robert Venturi's "Mielparque Nikko Kirifuri Resort" in Tochigi Prefecture, Japan (1991 winner), and Tadao Ando's "Church of Light," in Osaka Prefecture, Japan (1995 winner).
		• IKAT: Splendid Silks from Central Asia September 30, 1999 - January 9, 2000
			Brilliant, dazzling colors and lively, intricate patterns are indicative of the cloth-making process known as ikat. Created by repeatedly binding and dying individual threads before they are woven into a cloth, the term ikat is now synonymous with the finished textiles themselves. Produced primarily in the Central Asian cities of Samarkand and Bukhara (present-day Uzbekistan) lustrous ikat fabrics were traded throughout all of Asia during the 19th century. They were often used as decorative hangings or as items of clothing for affluent families and the regional courts. This exhibition features approximately 30 to 40 of the finest examples of ikats assembled from the Guido Goldman Collection--the largest and most comprehensive collection of its kind--and is accompanied by a major catalogue authored by scholars Kate FitzGibbon and Andrew Hale, whose research in Russia and Uzbekistan helped to make this important publication winner of the 1997 George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award as the Best Art Book of the year. The Chicago installation is curated by Christa C. Thurman (The Christa C. Mayer Thurman Curator of Textiles, The Art Institute of Chicago).
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