Deck the (Mini) Halls
Art Institute of Chicago
The Art Institute of Chicago has a boisterous, expansive holiday spirit. The annual wreath-ing of the stately lions that welcome all visitors to the Art Institute took place on November 23rd, bestowing on the building a resolutely festive air. Inside the building, an infinitely more delicate decoration has occurred. The Art Institute’s Thorne Miniature Rooms have been decked for the holidays again. The rooms include a series of 68 models on a scale of one inch to one foot, created in the 1930s by highly skilled craftspeople according to specifications from Mrs. James Ward Thorne of Chicago. The rooms capture elements of European interiors from the 1200s to the 1930s, and of American interiors from the 1600s to the 1930s. Now, many of these petite treasures are adorned with holiday trimmings representing Christmas, Hanukkah, or New Year’s, and appropriate to the room’s time period. Virginia Entrance Hall features mistletoe, a wreath, and garland; the modern-era California Hallway has an Otto Natzler mid-century menorah and box with a dreidel. The Art Institute’s website has a lovely slideshow, if you can’t make it to the Windy City this holiday season.
