Illinois Academy of Fine Arts

Origins of the Academy

The origins and development of the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts reveal a complex narrative of institutional competition, ambitious cultural advocacy, and a sustained drive for professional and material permanence. While the Academy would ultimately become a cornerstone of the Illinois State Museum’s art program, its birth was marked not by consensus but by division—specifically, a rare administrative rupture within the Chicago art world. From this rupture emerged an organization that redefined the relationship between artists, state institutions, and the public, laying the foundations for one of the earliest permanent state art galleries in the United States.

The Illinois Academy of Fine Arts arose from what contemporary observers described as a “novel occurrence” in American art organization. Traditionally, art history had seen “insurgents” split from established academies to form independent societies. In Illinois, however, the process unfolded in reverse. Dissatisfaction within the All-Illinois Society of Fine Arts—particularly with a major exhibition held in Chicago—led a group of artists and administrators to break away and establish a new academy.

Break from the All-Illinois Society of Fine Arts

This was not a minor schism but an assertive act of institutional redefinition. The founders deliberately adopted the term “academy,” an imposing title meant to evoke venerable bodies such as the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design. The choice signaled authority, permanence, and professional seriousness. Even before formal officers were elected, the Academy placed its affairs in the hands of a board of directors composed of many well-known figures, demonstrating its intent to operate immediately at a high institutional level.

The split produced direct competition. Two organizations now planned overlapping traveling exhibition programs across Illinois. The parent All-Illinois Society scheduled exhibitions in cities such as Decatur and Galesburg, while the newly formed Illinois Academy prepared a major display for Springfield and simultaneously lobbied the state to underwrite two $1,000 purchase prizes. From the outset, the Academy positioned itself not merely as an exhibitor but as an advocate for state-supported cultural infrastructure.

Formal Organization

By the fall of 1926, the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts was formally organized with a clearly articulated mission: “to promote the production and sale of the works of living artists of Illinois and for the encouragement of all the fine arts.” This emphasis on living artists marked a decisive break from older exhibition models that privileged retrospective display or narrowly defined aesthetic schools.

The Academy’s leadership reflected a powerful alliance between Springfield’s institutional authority and Chicago’s cultural elite.

Leadership

Jules F. Cornelius, elected as the Academy’s first president, also served as president of the Uptown Chicago Civic Museum Association. In his public statements, Cornelius emphasized that the Academy’s membership included “practically all of the leading artists of the State,” many of whom had achieved national and international renown. His rhetoric framed Illinois artists not as provincial figures but as participants in global artistic discourse, deserving of serious institutional support.

Dr. A. R. Crook, Chief of the Illinois State Museum and chairman of the Academy’s Exhibition Committee, became the Academy’s most influential institutional architect. Crook championed the integration of fine art into the Museum’s natural history framework, arguing that without such efforts valuable collections would continue to leave Illinois for other states. For Crook, art was not ancillary to the Museum’s mission but essential to its civic and educational role.

Mary E. Aleshire, Director of Exhibitions, provided the organizational energy that transformed ambition into practice. She explicitly advocated for the inclusion of both the “Conservative and Modern Schools of Art,” rejecting factionalism in favor of breadth. Under her direction, the Academy mounted an extraordinarily ambitious touring schedule, visiting fifteen cities in a single year.

Caroline McIlvaine, Chairman of Historical Art, oversaw special committees charged with ensuring that acquisitions for the permanent collection met rigorous “historical, racial and artistic standards.” Her role underscores the Academy’s awareness that representation, diversity of origin, and historical significance were central to the legitimacy of a state collection.

Together, these figures formed a leadership structure that blended artistic authority, administrative skill, and political access—an alignment critical to the Academy’s success.

First Annual Exhibition

The Academy’s first major exhibition immediately demonstrated the scale of its ambitions. Many contemporaries considered a traveling show of this magnitude “impossible,” particularly given the logistical challenges of transport, installation, and lighting. Comprising 336 original paintings, sculptures, and prints, the exhibition was widely regarded as unprecedented in its scope. The conservative and modern leaning artist works were split into Group A and Group B, thereby satisfying artists of both "schools."

While there was doubt about the organization, the Academy succeeded. For its Springfield debut in the Centennial Building, a special “sixth floor” gallery was outfitted with new lighting specifically designed to accommodate fine art display. This was not a makeshift arrangement but a deliberate investment in professional exhibition standards.

Art for the Masses

Following its Springfield opening, the exhibition traveled extensively. It appeared at major educational institutions, including the University of Illinois and the State Teachers Colleges at Normal and Macomb. It then circulated through a wide range of regional centers—Joliet, Eureka, Peoria, Rock Island, Moline, Freeport, Sterling, Rock Falls, Aurora, LaSalle, and Chicago—bringing contemporary Illinois art to audiences who had rarely encountered such work in a museum context.

This touring strategy reinforced the Academy’s central premise: that fine art was a statewide cultural resource, not the exclusive property of metropolitan elites. The second annual exhibition in 1928 featured 292 artworks, representing both the modern and conservative schools of art. Prize winners in this exhibition included:

From the beginning, the Academy understood that exhibitions alone could not secure a lasting legacy. Its leaders articulated a clear goal: the establishment of a permanent art gallery within the Illinois State Museum that would serve as a “chronological record of progress” in Illinois art.

Friends of Illinois Art

To fund acquisitions, the Academy organized a patron group known as the “Friends of Illinois Art.” This group played a crucial mediating role between artists, institutions, and the state. Artists supported the effort by offering works selected for the permanent collection at deliberately low prices, prioritizing public access over immediate profit.

The economic impact of this system was nonetheless substantial. By 1931, the Academy had facilitated approximately $50,000 in sales for its member artists—a remarkable figure during a period marked by economic uncertainty. At the same time, the Academy actively sought “liberal contributions” from artists who had come to Illinois “from other shores,” ensuring that the emerging collection reflected the state’s demographic and cultural diversity rather than a narrow regionalism.

Permanent Art Gallery

On June 12, 1928, the Academy’s vision reached a historic milestone with the formal dedication of a permanent art gallery within the Illinois State Museum. Widely regarded as the first permanent state art gallery in the nation, the space symbolized the successful integration of fine art into state governance. By 1931, the Museum had purchased approximately 65 works from Academy exhibitions, establishing a foundational public collection.

From the 1928 exhibition, the following works were purchased for the Illinois State Museum:

Change in Leadership - Death of Dr. Crook

The Academy faced a profound challenge with the death of Dr. Crook on May 30, 1930. His personal influence had been instrumental in sustaining momentum, and its absence was immediately felt. The Fourth Annual Exhibition proceeded without a formal catalogue and was shown only at the State Fair Grounds, a marked departure from previous institutional rigor. At their fifth and final exhibition in 1931, the following works were added to the museum collection:

Yet the structures Crook had built proved resilient. Under his successor, Arthur Sterry Coggeshall, and through the work of the Museum’s first dedicated art staff, the Academy’s mission endured.

Frances Summers Ridgely

Central to this continuity was Frances Summers (later Ridgely), hired in 1929 and serving as Curator of Art until 1963. Her tenure ensured professional consistency across decades of change. Through her stewardship, the Academy’s founding sentiment—articulated memorably by Cornelius as “All else passes, but art alone endures”—was transformed from rhetoric into institutional reality.

The Illinois Academy of Fine Arts was neither an incidental artists’ association nor a fleeting reaction to exhibition politics. It was a deliberate institutional experiment—born of conflict, sustained by advocacy, and realized through structural innovation. By centering living artists, mobilizing statewide exhibitions, embedding acquisition into exhibition practice, and aligning itself with state institutions, the Academy permanently altered the cultural landscape of Illinois.

Legacy

Its legacy endures not only in the works preserved within the Illinois State Museum, but in the very idea that fine art constitutes a public good — worthy of state support, professional stewardship, and permanent preservation. In this sense, the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts stands as a foundational model for public art institutions in the United States, proving that from division can emerge durable cultural achievement.

For references see the following:

• Annual exhibitions were held as follows: FIRST ANNUAL: Catalogue of the First Art Exhibition by Members of the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts, (Springfield: Illinois State Museum Division, 1926). A selection of works was exhibited at the Romany Club in Chicago in November 1927, which ended the travel circuit for that year; SECOND ANNUAL: Exhibited at the Illinois State Museum, Springfield April 14 - November 1, 1928, and then traveled to the University of Illinois, Illinois State Fair, Quincy Art Club, and Art Association of Jacksonville. Catalogue of the Second Art Exhibition by Members of the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts in the Galleries of the Illinois State Museum, Springfield, Illinois, (Springfield: Illinois State Museum Division, April 14 - June, 1928). THIRD ANNUAL: The Illinois Academy of Fine Arts. Prospectus. Third Annual Exhibition of Illinois Painting and Sculpture, (Chicago: Art Salon, Illinois Women's Athletic Club and Illinois State Museum, December, 12/9-12/30/1928 and 1/13-4/15/1929) and The Third Annual Exhibition by members of the Illinois Academy of Fine Art, (Springfield: Illinois State Museum Society, 1929); FOURTH ANNUAL: Assembled in the Art Institute of Chicago for shipment to the Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, where it was exhibited at the Fine Arts Building in August 1930, and FIFTH (FINAL) ANNUAL: Held in the Merchandise Mart, Chicago April 15 - April 25, 1931, and then in the Illinois State Museum May 12 - August 31, 1931. The Fifth Annual Exhibition By members of the Illinois Academy of Fine Arts, (Chicago: Illinois Academy of Fine Arts, 1931).

• "Illinois Academy," The Art Digest, November 1, 1926, p.6.

• Eleanor Jewett, “Works of Chicago Artists on Display in State Exhibition,” Chicago Tribune, 11/2/1927, p.37

• Unidentified flyer describing Illinois Women's Athletic Club, Chicago, activities with the Illinois Academy of Fine Art. June 1928, IHAP Library.

• “State Provides Purchase Fund For Illinois Art,” The Chicago Evening Post Magazine of the Art World, 7/3/1928, p.3.

• Eleanor Jewett, “Academy of Fine Arts Deserves Praise,” Chicago Tribune, 7/22/1928, part 8, p.3.

• Eleanor Jewett, “Illinois Art Show Full of Paintings That Please Critic,” Chicago Tribune,12/19/1928, p.37.

• “Emmerson Names Art Society Head for Museum Board,” Chicago Tribune, 3/1/1930, p.19.

• Eleanor Jewett, “LAUDS ILLINOIS ARTISTS' SHOW,” Chicago Tribune, 4/16/1931, p.18.