How can you turn the pages at the Art Institute of Chicago if you aren't there in person? The gentle digital experience offered on this site is a fine surrogate if you can't make it to the Windy City. Currently, there are over 35 items here that are organized into four categories: Sketchbooks, Manuscripts and Paintings, Printed Items, and By Date. One place to start is with the work of James Castle, who happened to be a self-taught artist who was deaf and mute from birth. He brought together paper advertisements and soot and spit ink drawings to create vast creative landscapes. Picasso's "Unknown Masterpiece,” a wonderfully illustrated rendition of Honore De Balzac's short story about the power and potential tragedy of artistic creation, is another great item of note from the collection.
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