Helen Frankenthaler, “Divertimento,” 1983, lithograph on paper, 37 1/2″ x 27 1/4″. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, gift of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, 2023.24.6./Photo: Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/Multiples, Inc., New York

1
Elizabeth Catlett: “A Black Revolutionary Artist and All That It Implies”
(Art Institute of Chicago)
A retrospective featuring more than a hundred works that “showcases the significant role this revolutionary artist and radical activist played in her time and the influence she still has today.”
Opens August 30

2
Industry of the Ordinary: Summer Residency 2025 Exhibition
(SoNa)
IOTO, 2006 Newcity Breakout Artists, showcases its own platform for fifteen emerging artists
Opens September 6

3
Shakkei: Work by Mayumi Lake and Bob Faust
(Elmhurst Art Museum)
“The first major museum exhibition for these two Chicago-based artists whose colorful kaleidoscopic artworks create an immersive optical experience,” shown separately and in collaboration.
Opens September 6

4
Pouring, Spilling, Bleeding: Helen Frankenthaler and Artists’ Experiments on Paper
(Block Museum)
The Block is one of ten university museums to receive prints from the late artist’s foundation. This exhibition will feature the gifts in conversation with other prints in the museum’s collection.
Opens September 17

5
Chicago Exhibition Weekend
More than seventy galleries and public spaces bring a surge of art energy to the city, now in its third year.
September 19-21