Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, MCA

Profile

The Museum of Contemporary Art Collection has outstanding examples of visual art from 1945 to the present with a strong focus on surrealism, minimalism, conceptual photography, and work by Chicago-based artists. These highlights from the 2,500 objects in the collection are arranged alphabetically by artist's last name and range in media from painting, sculpture, and photography to installation and video. Each object is accompanied by an image and a short description. Although not represented here, the MCA also has over 3,000 examples in its collection of artists' books.

Only a small percentage of collection works are on view at any given time and may be found in any of the museum spaces. These works are often used to create rotating thematic exhibitions.

To learn more about the history of the MCA Collection, please read the essay "Life Death Love Hate Pleasure Pain: A Spectrum of Contemporary Art at the MCA, Chicago" by Elizabeth Smith, James W. Alsdorf Chief Curator and Deputy Director for Programs, from the 2002 collection catalogue, Life Death Love Hate Pleasure Pain.

represented artists

Magdalena Abakanowicz      Vito Acconci      John Ahearn      Carl Andre      Richard Artschwager      Francis Bacon      John Baldessari      Bernd & Hilla Becher      Hans Bellmer      Joseph Beuys      Ashley Bickerton      Lee Bontecou      Victor Brauner      Marcel Broodthaers      Roger Brown      Alexander Calder      Christo & Jeanne-Claude      Chuck Close      Tony Cragg      Stan Douglas      Jean Dubuffet      Marcel Duchamp      Jeanne Dunning      Max Ernst      Dan Flavin      Gilbert & George      Leon Golub      Felix Gonzalez-Torres      Dan Graham      Andreas Gursky      Ann Hamilton      Jim Hodges      Jenny Holzer      Roni Horn      Alfredo Jaar      Jasper Johns      Donald Judd      Mike Kelley      Anselm Kiefer      Franz Kline      Jeff Koons      Joseph Kosuth      Barbara Kruger      Louise Lawler      Sherrie Levine      Sol LeWitt      Sharon Lockhart      Richard Long      René Magritte      Inigo Manglano-Ovalle

Brice Marden      Marisol      Kerry James Marshall      Gordon Matta-Clark      Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset      Tatsuo Miyajima      Mariko Mori      Robert Morris      Bruce Nauman      Cady Noland      Jim Nutt      Claes Oldenburg      Tony Oursler      Jorge Pardo      Dan Peterman      Raymond Pettibon      Jack Pierson      Adrian Piper      Sigmar Polke      Richard Prince      Ad Reinhardt      Pipilotti Rist      David Robbins      Dieter Roth      Thomas Ruff      Robert Ryman      David Salle      Peter Saul      Julian Schnabel      George Segal      Richard Serra      Andres Serrano      Cindy Sherman      Yinka Shonibare      Lorna Simpson      Robert Smithson      Serge Spitzer      Haim Steinbach      Thomas Struth      Hiroshi Sugimoto      Tony Tasset      Richard Tuttle      Kara Walker      Jeff Wall      Anne Wilson      Jackie Winsor      David Wojnarowicz