In June 1974 the artist Roger Brown purchased an 1880s two-story storefront building at 1926 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois. Shortly after buying this, his first house, he left for Austria, entrusting his companion, the architect George Veronda, with the challenge of modifying the building to accommodate an artist's studio, home, and collection of art. In letters to Veronda from Europe Brown described design details he noticed during his travels which he felt might be useful in the renovation project. Upon his return the two began the gentle transformation of the building. Retaining most of the original architectural features, Veronda incorporated Brown's ideas with his own design scheme into an open, airy plan, with a painting studio on the first floor and a living space above well suited for the display of art objects. Over the next few decades the living space became nearly indistinguishable from the art objects that filled it.

Entry Installation View

In 1996 Roger Brown made a gift of his extensive collection of works of art, books, slides, architectural drawings, sketchbooks, correspondence, video tapes, and other archival and artistic materials to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago for use as an artists' study collection. The collection is kaleidoscopic, containing over one thousand diverse works including the art of Chicago Imagists and other contemporary artists; American folk art; ethnographic art from Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the U.S.; objects from American material and popular culture; costumes; textiles; toys; and furniture. Throughout the second story of his former home this collection remains as it was installed and reinstalled by Brown over the years. This installation can be seen as a single, complex ensemble; its character is determined by the panorama of images and the relationships between and among them--and to the house itself-- rather than by a conventional presentation of discrete objects considered individually. This outstanding assemblage reflects Roger Brown's personal artistic vision and his insightful responses to the visual, material world around him-- preserving intact the dynamic interplay between making and collecting art. Inherent in the collection's remarkable diversity is Brown's perception of an aesthetic equality among such objects, providing the SAIC community with an environment for the study of art unimpeded by market values or art world constructs. This is the way he experienced and lived with them at home. The study collection does not evoke the typical "house museum" but it's exactly that -- a place where objects derive their meanings equally from their relationships to each other and from the intensely personal, architectural, and symbolic context of "home."

In addition to the interior panorama of art installed, Brown left the School a voluminous cache of art (by Roger Brown and other artists), and related study materials. Stored in flat files and closets, this aspect of the collection has not been easily viewed. Materials in storage include an extensive selection of prints and works on paper; paintings, architectural plans and models; Brown's library of art books, exhibition catalogues and other bibliographic materials; all of Brown's sketch books; a large and important group of slides; exhibition and other ephemera; travel souvenirs; artists' correspondence, and other writings. Together, the collection of art as installed and the trove of study materials provides a unique, integrated resource for the in-depth study of art and art history.

View of living room

The Roger Brown Study Collection represents a significant aspect of Chicago's art history from the 1960s and 70s, when the perceived disparity between art from the mainstream and works by self-taught artists developed into a dynamic interchange that has had considerable impact on artistic culture in and outside of Chicago. Along with other SAIC students and faculty, Brown explored the compelling world of art around him--in the region and in travels around the country and the world-- with a spirit of visual and intellectual curiosity. Fueled by these artists' and others' (educators, critics, art dealers and collectors) perceptions and activities, Chicago emerged as a major center for the recognition and acceptance of works from beyond the mainstream. Concurrently, a tradition of foraging the streets and preserving vernacular culture became an extension of art making and artist-assembled collections of this nature became a large part of city's artistic identity. The Roger Brown Study Collection is a direct manifestation of Brown's conviction of the inherent equivalence among artistic genres, where designations such as "insider" and "outsider," "fine" and folk," and "high" and "low" are neutralized.

During a journey through the western United States in 1972, Roger came upon and photographed a vernacular building, perhaps a service garage originally, on a street in Rosebud, South Dakota. Signs on the building read "Artists Museum" and "World's Fastest Scenic Artist." It was there, as Brown stated later, that the idea of thinking about his personal collection of art as the "Artists' Museum of Chicago" first took hold. Twenty five years later, in a letter describing the slide of the building and his gift to the School, Roger wrote:

I have always thought of referring to the collection as Artists' Museum of Chicago. Not "Chicago Artists' Museum" -- but "Artists' Museum of Chicago" because I feel the things in the collection are of universal appeal to all artists and people with a sense of the spiritual and mystical nature that material things can evoke.

Few students today may be aware that The Art Institute of Chicago was established by the School as its study collection of art. Continuing a significant aspect of SAIC's history, the Roger Brown Study Collection represents an expansive perception of art, rooted in an immediate aesthetic appreciation of art objects first, raising conventional standards and practices of connoisseurship -- truly an "Artists' Museum."

We are honored and blessed by Roger Brown's profound generosity in these extraordinary gifts of art and architecture to the School. Equally profound are the implications for the enrichment of the School's visual and intellectual environment. In this exhibition and catalogue we offer a glimpse at the things behind the scenes, into the "Hidden Aspects" of The Roger Brown Study Collection.

Artists Museum