From the Editors

From painting to photography to music to collecting, art not only touches us personally but reflects the broader world—and the city—we live in and engage with. In this way, art shapes and tells history, and in this issue of Chicago History, we explore different forms and ways of understanding art.

Before there were films and immersive experiences like virtual reality, there were cycloramas, massive paintings hung in specially designed circular buildings to give visitors the feeling of being inside a particular scene from history or myth, including the Great Chicago Fire. The Chicago Fire Cyclorama was created to capture the audience of the 1893 World' s Columbian Exposition—just a little over twenty years afterward—so attendees could get an idea of the devastating event. The artists who created the painting were highly skilled and formally trained, dividing and conquering on the composition, buildings, people, and animals to create a vivid experience for visitors.

Earlier this year, we opened Vivian Maier: In Color for our visitors to experience Chicago through the various perspectives of photographer Vivian Maier. Frances Dorenbaum, the exhibition ’ s curator, spoke to Jeffery Goldstein, one of the main collectors of Maier ’ s work, and whose donation to the Museum, which

included Maier

’ s color transparencies, negatives, and slides, were printed and featured in the exhibition. In their conversation, Dorenbaum and Goldstein discuss what it means to collect, take care of, and share Maier ’ s work.

While art can be a matter of single person ’ s perspective through a camera, it can also reflect a particular community within the city. Chicago is home to a large Polish American population, and in the mid-twentieth century, Walter Jagiello, better known as Li’l Wally, was a household name. Sometimes referred to as Chicago ’ s Polka King, Li’l Wally created a style of polka with a tempo slower than the popular East Coast style, making music that everyday people could dance to, with a mix of Polish folk songs and lyrics based on the common experiences of working-class immigrant life.

Capturing real life was also the job of the photographers of the Chicago Sun-Times, sometimes known as “Chicago ’ s Picture Newspaper. ” Our final essay of this issue includes a reflection on the artistry and access that Sun-Times photographers had not only to the major events that have taken place in the city, but to the people and neighborhoods of Chicago. From joy to grief, pride to rage, Sun-Times photographers were artists in their own right, documenting—and at times humanizing—the city and its stories.

Finally, on a more somber note, in our Making History Awards section, we honor the late Dr. Joanne Smith, who passed away in September 2021. Smith was the recipient of the Museum ’ s 2020 Enrico Fermi Making History Award for Distinction in Science, Medicine, and Technology, and we honor her enduring legacy in Chicago as a driving force in the field of physical medicine and rehabilitation. Her vision led to the remarkable Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, which served 50,000 patients in 2020 alone.