Roberta WeirI was born in Chicago in the mid-1900's. From about the age of two I have been peering into books and standing in front of paintings. I didn't always understand why artists were doing what they were doing. Confronting art as a teenager in the fiftiesI couldn't see that art for what it was-the blasted fruit of World War II, and a great chasm of grief and confusion now stood between the artist and anything(s)he might attempt to grasp or objectify. Barnett Newman, Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline-kinetic painters feeling their way forward in a broken world. In the midst of all the angst following the war, in an art environment of Modernism (which was actually over but no one had noticed that yet) my won youthful efforts were somehow most strongly influenced by Western classical art and our innate love of beauty. I could see this beauty mounted like a gem above the stricken world and I could see it recognized and adored in Modigliani, De LaTour, Corot, Fra Angelico, Botticelli, Vermeer, Millet, Rodin, Money, Maillol, all strewn together in showplaces of culture, like the grave goods of Europa, showing me qualities, I could revere in a context of magnificent accomplishment. Most of this through the Art Institute of Chicago and through books. Read More Read Less