The
Renaissance
Society

In Commemoration of Marin A. Ryerson

It is appropriate that the first exhibition in the Renaissance Gallery this season should be in commemoration of Martin A. Ryerson, and should be selected from the great collection which he has presented to the Art Institute for the city of Chicago.

In addition to other social and civic interests, Mr. Ryerson has for more than forty years identified himself as a Trustee with each of the three great institutions of Art, Science and Education which have so enriched life in Chicago: the Art Institute, the Field Museum and the University of Chicago. He was ex-President and Honorary President of the Board of Trustees of the Art Institute, and has installed and developed there the famous Ryerson art library and the many and varied collections of art. Especially important are the large group of paintings, the Primitives, Italian, Spanish, German, Flemish, Dutch and older French Masters, and the French Schools of the last hundred years. Mr. Ryerson was Vice-President of the Board of Trustees of the Field Museum and has been one of the forces which have linked the three institutions in close sympathy and cooperation. It is of some significance that a collector of such varied and discriminating taste in art should be deeply interested in other fields of culture.

Mr. Ryerson was President of the Board of Trustees of the University for thirty years from 1892 to 1922. The Ryerson Physical Laboratory was one of the first buildings on the campus, completed in 1892. To the students from all parts of the country whose Alma Mater is the University of Chicago, this record of a life to which they owe so much should be one of pride and stimulation. It is with them in mind especially that this exhibition has been arranged, and it is hoped that the students on the campus and the Alumni in the city during the exhibition will make frequent visits to it and also follow up with the study and enjoyment the various and larger sections of the Ryerson collection in the Art Institute.

Mr. Ryerson has received honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale Universities and Kenyon College, and in 1929 (LL.D.) from the University of Chicago.

Mr. and Mrs. Ryerson have perpetual membership in the Renaissance Society and have been generous friends and advisors for seventeen years. Mrs. Ryerson is an Honorary Director of the Society and it is through her kind cooperation and that of the Art Institute that the present exhibition in Wieboldt Hall has been made possible.

This text was taken from the exhibition catalogue.