This exhibition offers an expansive narrative of modern monochrome, or “one color,” art. Revisiting classic modernist ideas of flatness, idealized form, and color, Monochrome Multitudes opens this fundamental artistic practice up to reveal its surprising creative possibilities.

The exhibition features monochromatic groupings—rooms of blue, white, yellow, gray, black, and red works respectively—alongside thematic sections where single colors address questions of texture, the body, urban space, and sound. Throughout, Monochrome Multitudes engages North American art in a global dialogue and emphasizes the significance of multiple media ranging from weaving to wall-painting to video, and multiple materials including footballs, pantyhose, and Vinylite.

The exhibition features approximately 100 works, drawn primarily from the Smart Museum’s and other collections at the University of Chicago, supplemented by a number of important loans primarily from UChicago alumni and Chicago-area collectors.

Image: Claire Zeisler, Triptych, 1967, Knotted and tied dyed wool. Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joel Starrels, Sr., 1973.213a-c.