Intuit, Driehaus museums to get nearly 100 prestigious art works

In an unusual coincidence, two Chicago art museums announced substantial acquisitions on the same day this week — a total of 98 works dating from 1880 to 2020 by such creators as famed outsider artist William Hawkins and early 20th-century realist George Bellows.

The Intuit Art Museum, one of the most respected institutions devoted to self-taught or outsider art in the United States, added 61 works from two noted collectors in the field: Jan Petry, a longtime Intuit supporter who died in 2024, and Gordon W. Bailey of Los Angeles.

The Driehaus Museum, whose galleries occupy an opulent 1883 Gilded-Age residence at 50 E. Erie St., received 37 paintings and works on paper from the Chicago collections of M. Christine Schwartz and noted philanthropists Alexandra C. and John D. Nichols plus six long-term loans.

The acquisition news comes the same week as the Art Institute of Chicago’s announcement that it acquired “The Dugout,” Norman Rockwell’s 1948 artwork depicting a dejected Chicago Cubs. The museum’s first-ever Rockwell went on display to visitors starting Wednesday.

More than ever, Debra Kerr, Intuit’s president and chief executive officer said, the Intuit Museum is trying to be “judicious and smart” when it adds new works to the collection.

“We are a small museum, and we can’t afford to have everything in the world,” Kerr said. “So, when we bring something into the collection these days, it’s stellar. We want the best possible work we can get.”

She believes its latest acquisitions fit that bill. Not only do the works significantly boost the overall size of the museum’s collection, they deepen its holdings of artists of color, particularly those by women, such as Alabama-born Brenda Davis. The Intuit’s collection now numbers about 1,500 objects.

Highlights among the 61 works include “Untitled (Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)” (ca. 1970s), the museum’s first work by Sam Doyle (1906-85), an artist from the island of St. Helena off the coast of South Carolina. Another is a painting of Wrigley Field by William Hawkins (1895-1990), a renowned outsider artist from Columbus, Ohio.

Petry’s gifts will go on view April 9, 2026 through March 21, 2027 in a show titled, “Life is an Art: The Collection of Jan Petry,” and Kerr expects examples from the Bailey donation to be shown in early 2027.

Until now, the Driehaus Museum, founded by financier and philanthropist Richard H. Driehaus, has mostly housed decorative arts from the late 19th and early 20th-century. Displays have revolved around such famed artists and workshops as Louis Comfort Tiffany and the Wiener Werkstätte.

Driehaus’ executive director, Lisa M. Key, said this latest round of acquisitions is a big step in fulfilling the museum’s desire to bolster its holdings of paintings, drawings and original prints. “Through working with these donors,” she said, “we’ve been able to exponentially grow the [fine art] works in our collection not only in a scale but also in a quality that we would never have been able to afford if we were to be purchasing them outright.”

The five paintings from the Schwartz collection include examples by late 19th- and early 20th-century women artists Pauline Dohn and Lucie Hartrath as well as William Clusmann’s “Untitled (Chicago Street Scene)” (ca. 1920s). The latter offers a historical look at the bustling intersection of Michigan Avenue and Adams Street.

The Nicholses (John died in 2023), who have been major backers of a range of Chicago cultural organizations including the Art Institute of Chicago and Music Institute of Chicago, donated 32 lithographs from 1897 to 1924 by Ashcan School artist George Bellows (1882-1925).

“In one fell swoop, this gift makes the Driehaus Museum a huge repository for this single artist,” Key said.

In addition to acquisitions, the Driehaus Museum has added long-term loans to its holdings from the Richard H. Driehaus Art Exhibition Lending Foundation, the related private collection of the museum’s late founder and namesake.

The highest-profile of the six works is Frederic Edwin Church’s oil on canvas, “Mountain Landscape” (1849), part of cash-strapped Valparaiso University’s controversial sale last year of three works from its Brauer Museum of Art to fund the renovation of freshman dormitories.

According to a Driehaus Museum press release, archival and provenance research determined that the Church painting was originally part of the collection of Samuel and Mathilda Nickerson, who owned the home where the museum’s galleries are now located.

The Lending Foundation purchased the work at auction with the “sole intent” of lending it on a long-term basis to the Driehaus Museum, where it is hanging in the room where it was displayed some 120 years ago.

“I could not be happier that the Church is back in its original Chicago home,” Key said. “It is an incredible ending to a long-standing history of this artwork, and really the Driehaus Museum could not be a better place for it to end up.”