Guinan and Algren

Alex Kotlowitz profiles local (and locally-neglected) artist Robert Guinan in his marvelous new book, Never a City So Real: A Walk in Chicago:

Guinan seems resigned to his fate, a chronicler of Chicago for all but Chicagoans. There's a touch of drama to Guinan, and if you catch him on a bad day, he can, indeed, sound embittered. "Ask Algren," he once told me. "Chicago kills its own. You have to go to New York to be a success. That was Algren's complaint. Algren says Chicago isn't a second city, it's the secondhand city." Guinan admires Algren. He owns first editions of five of his books, and has read each of them at least twice. In his studio hangs a black-and-white photograph of Algren in an overcoat walking down Division Street on a wintry day. Algren's good friend and unoffical photographer, Art Shea (sic), signed it: For Guinan-Who knows where it's at.

Kotlowitz goes on to relate a conversation with Guinan and his champion, French art dealer Albert Loeb.

(Loeb) tells me the story of how in the mid-1990s, the city's Cultural Center was planning an exhibition of Guinan's work, how exciting that was, and how it all fall through. Loeb says he was never completely clear about the reason why. Maybe it was the money needed to ship Guinan's work back to Chicago from Paris. Maybe it was the fact that the Democratic Covention was to be held in the city that year, and barflies, naked piano players, and reclining prostitutes (the frequent subjects of Guinan's work) weren't exactly the image the city wanted to put forth. Or maybe they just lost interest. Loeb appears agitated. "Were you disappointed?" I ask Guinan, giving him an opening. "No," he replies. Loeb then tells me about a Chicago art dealer who once said of Guinan's paintings, "Who wants to look at these? These are the people who want to mug you." To which Guinan sighs.

Clearly, the close-mindedness of Official Chicago hasn't changed much from Algren's days.

More info on Guinan, including images of some of his works, can be found here. I hadn't heard of him before, but I'll definitely be checking into him further.