February 6, 2027–August 29, 2027

In a career spanning half a century, American photographer Barbara Crane (1928–2019) brought a bold and dynamic vision to her hometown of Chicago. Crane began using a camera in the late 1940s and in 1966 graduated from the famed Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology, where she embraced the ethos of pursuing abstraction. Drawing on various strategies including repetition and combining multiple negatives—and experimenting with flash and formats like Polaroid—she drew close to reveal a city pulsing with energy, from its crowded streets and beaches to its workers and the shape-shifting facades of downtown. 

This exhibition, celebrating a recent gift from Crane’s estate, features some of her best-known photographs made during the height of her career from the 1960s to the 1980s. In several series Crane explored contrasting themes of leisure and labor, observing how people inhabit these spaces with distinct attitudes, gestures, and interactions—from the carefree joy of summer festivals to the grind of a commute. Through tight framing and splicing together negatives, she also offered unfamiliar perspectives on her surroundings. This installation showcases Crane’s restless drive to push the boundaries of photography as she saw public life in Chicago through the prism of her camera.