Kerry Marshall honors Chicago women of culture with stunning mural

A visitor photographs American artist Kerry James Marshall's 2009 "untitled" acrylic painting, during a press preview for the inaugural exhibition at The Met Breuer museum, Tuesday, March 1, 2016, in New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art throws open the doors March 18 to its new modern and contemporary art outpost, The Met Breuer. The new space is a short walk from the Met's Fifth Avenue headquarters. It's housed at the Marcel Breuer-designed building that was the longtime home of the Whitney Museum of American Art before it moved downtown last year. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

“RUSH MORE” is Chicago’s very own “Mount Rushmore” thanks to artist Kerry James Marshall. It reveres women who have crafted both arts as well as culture in Chicago. The line up includes Oprah Winfrey, Maggie Daley, Sandra Cisneros and Gwendolyn Brooks.

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It currently lives on a wall close to half the size of a football field on the Cultural Center, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“I thought, well, in the history of monuments you have very few that represent women, but in the history of Chicago you have very many women that played key roles in establishing culture here,” the South Side artist said late last week, a day before returning to put finishing touches on the work.

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Marshall’s rate was a flat $1.00 – despite just auctioning off a piece that sold for $5.04 million titled “Still Life with Wedding Portrait,” a painting that he had originally donated to a Museum of Contemporary Art benefit sale in 2015, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“That’s a part of that civic obligation thing,” Marshall said. “In a moment of weakness, I managed to be corralled into spending a lot of time I really didn’t have designing (the mural).”

“Kerry James Marshall is one of the most renowned artists in the world today,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said. “You think of Kerry James Marshall. You think of the women. You think of the building. And you think of the 50-year anniversary of the Picasso piece. I can’t think of a better way to bring those threads together into one statement. It’s a tremendous gift for the city.” the newspaper reported.

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Emanuel continued with the following: “There’s a poetry to the fact that it’s a building that was saved by a woman, ‘Sis’ Daley,’ ” A little background for you: Eleanor Daley [wife of Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley] back in the 1970’s saved the former Chicago Public Library from becoming an office tower.

Chicago’s downtown Cultural Center has become a hub for viewing some of the most breathtaking art, at zero cost to you. To plan your visit today, check out their website here. To view photos of the new mural, click below, credit to The Chicago Tribune.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-ent-kerry-james-marshall-mural-unveiled-chicago-1204-story.html

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