Olmsted in Chicago: South Park Then and Now
@ Hyde Park Historical Society
Online
On view through Saturday, December 31st
April 26, 2022, marks the 200th birthday of Frederick Law Olmsted, author, conservationist, social reformer, and Americaâs seminal landscape architect. Olmsted and his successors designed some of Chicagoâs most beloved and important greenspaces including Jackson Park, Washington Park, Midway Plaisance, and the University of Chicago campus. The city joins more than 120 organizations across the United States that have come together to celebrate the bicentennial in a campaign called Olmsted 200: Parks for All People.
The Washington Park Camera Club, one of the Chicago areaâs oldest camera clubs and predominantly composed of African American members from the cityâs South Side, celebrates Olmstedâs iconic green spaces with an online photographic essay launching on his 200th birthday. The exhibition weaves together historic and contemporary images of Olmstedâs South Park: Jackson and Washington Parks and the Midway Plaisance. With recent photography by twelve members of the club, the project highlights the importance of Olmstedâs landscapes in the past as well as the vital role they play in the lives of Chicagoans today.
Presented in collaboration with the Hyde Park Historical Society as part of a yearlong celebration of Olmsted in Chicago consisting of this exhibition and a series of park tours this spring and summer.
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