Barbara Crane Collection

Barbara CraneWW-1972-017834

1972·Black and white photographic prints and black and white 4" x 5" negatives.·23 boxes and 1 portfolio: W.: 213.4 cm (84 in.)

Barbara Crane (1928-2019) graduated from New York University and the Institute of Design at IIT. She has taught photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, exhibited internationally, and has received both NEA grants and a Guggenheim Fellowship. From 1972 to 1979, she was commissioned by the Chicago Commission on Historical and Architectural Landmarks (currently known as the Commission on Chicago Landmarks) to photograph Chicago buildings being evaluated for possible landmark designation. Crane photographed numerous Chicago neighborhoods, capturing many pre-war commercial buildings and residences before the current trend of teardowns and extensive remodelings. The collection is comprised of approximately 1000 black-and-white images of Chicago buildings and neighborhoods, as well as the 4”x 5” negatives used for the prints. <a href="http://digital-libraries.artic.edu/cdm/search/collection/findingaids/searchterm/Crane,%20Barbara,%20Collection/field/title/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/1">View finding aid.</a> <a href="http://digital-libraries.artic.edu/cdm/search/collection/mqc/searchterm/Crane,%20Barbara,%20Collection/field/subcol/mode/all/conn/and/cosuppress/1">View selected images from this collection.</a> Collection access: Collections may be accessed in the Franke Reading Room of the Research Center at The Art Institute of Chicago, by appointment only. For further information, consult <a href="https://www.artic.edu/archival-collections/contact-usage-and-faq">the FAQ</a>. <a href="https://www.artic.edu/archival-collections/finding-aids">Finding aids by subject</a> <a href="http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/findingaids">Browse all finding aids</a> <a href="http://digital-libraries.saic.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/mqc">Browse images and media</a> <a href="https://www.artic.edu/archival-collections/oral-histories">Oral histories</a> Contact the Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives: archives@artic.edu

Catalogue

Year: 1972
Medium: Black and white photographic prints and black and white 4" x 5" negatives.
Dimensions: 23 boxes and 1 portfolio: W.: 213.4 cm (84 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Barbara Crane

Artist

Barbara Crane

Photography

Barbara Crane was an American photographer who developed a systematic approach to abstraction through the camera, creating grid-based compositions and close-up studies of natural and architectural forms. Working primarily in black and white, she explored repetition, pattern, and the photographic frame as a generative constraint rather than a documentary tool. Her practice emerged in the postwar period and remained committed to photography as a modernist discipline, treating the medium's technical possibilities as a conceptual starting point.

Chicago, IL, USA

Full artist profile →