Jan Cicero Gallery was a contemporary art gallery founded and directed by Jan Cicero (née Pickett), which operated from 1974 to 2003, with locations in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois and Telluride, Colorado. The gallery was noted for its early, exclusive focus on Chicago abstract artists at a time when they were largely neglected,Isaacs, Deanna (December 26, 2002). "Abstract Angel". Chicago Reader. Retrieved July 3, 2018.Thorson, Alice. "Chicago and Vicinity Show/1985". New Art Examiner, October 1985, p. 32–4.Segard, Michel. "The Other Tradition grows up: Chicago Abstractionists rise above a bitter legacy," New Art Examiner, March 1984, p. 8–9.Postiglione, Corey. "Interview with Five Abstract Painters". New Art Examiner, October 1976, p. 6–8. its role in introducing Native American artists to mainstream art venues beyond the Southwest,Nahwooksy, Fred. "Native art in the Windy City," Native Peoples Magazine, Sep/Oct 2000, Vol. 13 Issue 6, p. 52.Milby, Kathleen Ash. "Contemporary Native American Art in the Twentieth-First Century: Overcoming the Legacy," Native American Studies, 19:1 2005. Retrieved July 9, 2018.Akers, Norman, Jan Cicero and Craig McDaniel. Native Streams: Contemporary Native American Art, Terre Haute/Chicago: Indiana State University/ Jan Cicero Gallery, 1996. Retrieved July 3, 2018.Cicero, Jan and Abner Hershberger. Contemporary Native American Prints, Feb. 19-March 31, 1995, Goshen, Indiana: Goshen College, 1995. Retrieved July 3, 2018. and its showcasing of late-career and young women artists.Moser, Charlotte. "Evelyn Statsinger, Jan Cicero Gallery," ARTnews, March 1986, Vol. 85, p. 126-126.Ho, Sally S. "Eleanor Gorecki Himmelfarb, 1910-2009: Painter loved nature," Chicago Tribune, July 14, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2018.Morrison, Keith. "Bonnie Hartenstein," New Art Examiner, October 1977, p. 16.Polanski, G. Jurek. "Dannielle Tegeder: Flora (New Paintings)," ArtScope, October, 2000. The gallery focused on painting, and to a lesser degree, works on paper, often running counter to the city's prevailing art currents (e.g., Imagist figuration in the 1970s and Conceptual art in the 1980s and 1990s).Kirshner, Judith Russi. "Resisting Regionalism," in Art in Chicago 1945-1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 131–143. Retrieved March 30, 2018. It was also notable as a pioneer of two burgeoning Chicago gallery districts, the West Hubbard Street alternative corridor of the 1970s, and the River North district in the 1980s.Schulze, Franz. "Art in Chicago: The Two Traditions," in Art in Chicago 1945-1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 13–31. Retrieved March 30, 2018.Warren, Lynne. Galleries, Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
Jan Cicero Gallery represented notable artists including: abstractionists Carol Diehl,Upshaw, Leon. "Carol Diehl, Julie Richman, Peggy Schaps," New Art Examiner. January 1978, p. 16. Laurie Fendrich, Virginio Ferrari,Burnham, Jack. "Corey Postiglione, Mary Jo Marks, Virginia Ferrari". New Art Examiner, May 1977, p. 15. Budd Hopkins, Vera Klement,Allen, Jane and Derek Guthrie. "Shapes, Modules, and Grids". New Art Examiner, May 1976. Susan Michod,Abell, Jeff. "Susan Michod," New Art Examiner, November 1986, Vol. 14, p. 50. and Corey Postiglione; Native Americans Edgar Heap of Birds,Barandiarán, María José. "Edgar Heap of Birds," New Art Examiner, May 1994, Vol. 21, p. 46-47 Truman Lowe,Artner, Alan G. "Lowe Melds Native And Modern Traditions," Chicago Tribune, November 10, 1995. Retrieved June 29, 2018. Jaune Quick-to-See Smith,Zdanovics, Olga. "Reviews: Jaune Quick-to-See Smith at Jan Cicero Gallery." New Art Examiner, 22, no. 4, 1994, p. 42–43. and Emmi Whitehorse;Freeman, Michael, "Native Streams," "New Art Examiner", Summer, 1996, p. 49. early Chicago Imagists George CohenStoland, Laura. "George Cohen," in Art in Chicago 1945-1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 247. Retrieved March 30, 2018. Theodore HalkinHolg. Garrett. "Theodore Halkin, Jan Cicero Gallery," ARTnews, December 1994, Vol. 93, p. 146-147. and Evelyn Statsinger;Boris, Staci. "Evelyn Stasinger," in Art in Chicago 1945-1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 285. Retrieved March 30, 2018. representational painters Arthur LernerArtner, Alan G. "Lerner's Brush Still Quicker Than the Eye," Chicago Tribune, June 20, 1986, p.59. and James Cook;Gail Severn Gallery. James Cook, Ketchum, Idaho: Gail Severn Gallery, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2018. and artist/critics Keith MorrisonEdmunds, Allan. Three Decades of American Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection, New York: Hudson Hills Press, 2004, p. 204. and Peter Plagens.Buchholz, Barbara B. Review "Critiquing The Art Of Critic Peter Plagens," Chicago Tribune, May 1, 1998. Retrieved June 29, 2018. The gallery was frequently featured in national and regional art coverage in Artforum,Yood, James. "Sam Prekop, Jan Cicero Gallery," Artforum, June 1999. Retrieved July 3, 2018.Yood, James. "Laurie Fendrich, Jan Cicero Gallery," Artforum, May 1993. Retrieved July 3, 2018.Kirshner, Judith Russi. "Susan Michod, Jan Cicero Gallery," Artforum, March 1983. Retrieved July 3, 2018. Art in AmericaTaylor, Sue. "Robert Skaggs at Jan Cicero," Art in America, January 1987, Vol. 75, p. 143.Cassidy, Victor M. "Leslie Baum at Jan Cicero," Art in America, January 2003. ARTnews,Moser, Charlotte. "Theodore Halkin, Jan Cicero Gallery," ARTnews, January 1985, Vol. 84, p. 114. Arts MagazineCyphers, Peggy. "Laurie Fendrich," ARTS Magazine, April 1990. New Art Examiner,Stodder, Carole. "New Galleries". New Art Examiner, February 1975, p. 16.Argy, Andy. "Corey Postiglione, Jan Cicero Gallery." New Art Examiner, November 1985, p. 47. and Chicago's major newspapers,Schulze, Franz "The gallery market: It can't be cornered," Chicago Daily News, March 26–7, 1977, p. 14.Lauerman, Connie. What Do They Have To Prove?", Chicago Tribune, December 24, 1995. Retrieved July 3, 2018.Artner, Alan G. "Accent On Abstract," Chicago Tribune, October 8, 1998. Retrieved July 3, 2018. as well as in articles about the art market in Art+Auction,Yood, James. "Dealers stake out Oprahland," Art + Auction, January 2000, Vol. 22 Issue 1, p. 54. Crain's Chicago BusinessBorden, Jeff. "Dark hues on gallery front," Crain's Chicago Business, July 22, 1991. P. 3, 34. and the Chicago Tribune.McCracken, David. "Zoning Dispute Forecasts Storms For Booming River North," Chicago Tribune, September 18, 1987. Retrieved July 3, 2018.McCracken, David. Gallery Updates, Chicago Tribune, October 16, 1987. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
History Jan Cicero has often described her career as a gallerist as "an accidental" one.The Art Institute of Chicago, Artists Oral History Archive, Jan Cicero, Retrieved June 30, 2018. She began more than a decade into adulthood, after marrying future lawyer and author Frank Cicero Jr.Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Frank Cicero, Jr. P.C. - Partner. Retrieved July 16, 2018.Cicero, Frank. Creating the Land of Lincoln, Urbana-Champaign/Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2018. Retrieved July 16, 2018. in 1959, teaching Physical Education and Dance for six years, and having two children, Erica and Caroline (in 1965 and 1970), all of which sidelined an interest in art piqued when a high school teacher introduced her to Jackson Pollock and Abstract Expressionism. Cicero's passion resurfaced during graduate studies at Northwestern University (MA, Education, 1969), when she took studio art courses with artist and professor George Cohen, and solidified during an art survey course led by Chicago artist Corey Postiglione at the Evanston Art Center in 1973.
Beginnings in Evanston Through Postiglione's course, Cicero became aware of the large number of local abstract artists working in relative obscurity in the shadow of Imagism, which dominated the city's art scene at the time.Allen, Jane and Derek Guthrie. "Cool Abstraction". New Art Examiner, October 1976.Pannier, Frank. "A Painter Reviews Chicago, Part I" In The Essential New Art Examiner, Griffith, Terri and Kathryn Born, Janet Koplos, eds, Northern Illinois University Press, 2011, p. 15–8.Pannier, Frank. "A Painter Reviews Chicago, Part II," In The Essential New Art Examiner, Griffith, Terri and Kathryn Born, Janet Koplos, eds, Northern Illinois University Press, 2011, p. 19–23. Some of these artists had banded together in solidarity (e.g., "The Five," which included Ted Argeropolos, Larry Booth, Martin Hurtig, Vera Klement, and Larry Salomon—all of whom showed with Cicero at some point).Postiglione, Corey. "Against the Grain: The Work of Martin Hurtig," Catalogue. Chicago: Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, 2018.Upshaw, Leon. "Larry Salomon," New Art Examiner. December 1977, p. 15.New Art Examiner. December 1974.Boris, Staci. "Vera Klement," in Art in Chicago 1945-1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, ed. Lynne Warren. New York: Thames and Hudson, 1996, p. 263. Retrieved March 30, 2018. In 1974, Cicero decided to try to remedy the situation. She hung the work of a second abstract group—the self-dubbed "Artists Anonymous,"Artists Anonymous. "Letters". New Art Examiner, November 1975, p. 2. which included Carol Diehl, Mary Jo Marks, Tony Giliberto, Frank Pannier and Postiglione—on the empty walls of her large, newly purchased Evanston home and held an opening.Allen, Jane. "Drawings by Corey Postiglione". New Art Examiner, March 1976, p. 14. For the next few years she ran what Chicago Daily News critic Franz Schulze would later call "a lively gallery" out of her home.
Downtown Chicago gallery In March 1977, Jan Cicero Gallery relocated to a rented space at 433 N. Clark Street, in a downtown Chicago red-light district being pioneered by a restaurateur, Gordon Sinclair.Assaf-Lynn, Roxane. "The Man Who Put River North on the Chicago Map: Albert Friedman," Huffington Post, October 18, 2017. Retrieved July 9, 2018.Baldwin, Peter C. Vice Districts, Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved July 9, 2018. At the time, the city's art scene was beginning to expand beyond being what Franz Schulze deemed "a one-corner art town," with alternative galleries, such as N.A.M.E., Artemisia and A.R.C. having opened around the corner on Hubbard Street to avoid the high rents of the established Michigan Avenue/Ontario Street gallery district. N.A.M.E. co-founder and future New York magazine critic Jerry Saltz was one of the gallery's first employees. Cicero's gallery was the first commercial gallery to open in the district and one of the first in the city to exclusively show abstract art. In November 1978, the gallery moved to a larger space on the same block, at 437 N. Clark.
By 1983, the gallery looked to expand further, and joined the Richard Gray, Rhona Hoffman, Donald Young, and Zolla/Lieberman galleries in exploring a former warehouse district further north and west that came to be known as River North. It moved that year into larger quarters in a two-story building at 221 W. Erie Street that Cicero and her husband Frank purchased. The move came in advance of a 1980s surge in the art market that saw the number of galleries in Chicago double until a recession-driven slump in 1990 reversed the trend.