R
Oct 14–Nov 13, 1948

Form at Play - Abstraction in Various Materials by Chicago Artists

In this exhibition, as in all others presented by the Renaissance Society, our efforts have been directed toward providing a rewarding and enjoyable experience for our spectators and toward furthering the general knowledge, understanding, and patronage of art.

Here we are showing how the artist, working in the abstract field, manipulates and relates the essential elements of art, such as line, color, form, mass, and movement, without dependence upon recognizable naturalistic represenation; how his imaginative and inventive use of materials is brought into play on these formal qualities, sometimes for useful, sometimes solely for aesthetic or emotional purposes.

A fusing of these purposes has informed all fine examples of the useful arts through management of line, color, proportion, and the skillful use of suitable materials creatively understood.

In this exhibition, offering many divergent viewpoints, composed as it is of painting, sculpture, ceramics, constructions, and textiles, each work has been selected for its purely formal qualities.

The interest in a spacious presentation and the wide variety of material included, restricted the number of works in each general category so that those of many Chicago artists of distinguished attainments are neccessarily absent. It is hoped that this exhibition will serve to stimulate further explorations into these fields by artists and visitors.

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