Madron — home to Madron Gallery, Madron Press, and the Skolnik family’s private art collection — is taking a new approach to artistic patronage. The Skolnik family, the founders of Madron, is committed to supporting Chicago artists, celebrating Jewish heritage, and acting as stewards of the legacy of American art, from some of the key figures in American impressionism like Robert Vonnoh, John Henry Twachtman, Theodore Earl Butler, Lawton Parker, and Robert Reid, to more modern and abstract artists like Bernece Berkman-Hunter, Albert Bloch, Oscar Bluemner, John D. Graham, Ethel Spears, Charles Green Shaw, and Ben Shahn.
Through scholarship-informed programming and the en suite exhibition of artwork available for purchase alongside pieces from the private collection, Madron has carved out a unique place in Chicago’s artistic landscape, sparking dialogue about the ongoing significance of nineteenth and twentieth-century art in today’s world and fostering a dynamic community for Chicago’s culture-makers, shapers, and appreciators.
With a collection that started forming over 25 years ago, Madron Gallery showcases the breadth and depth of art in the United States with its diverse inventory of paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, and prints by less widely-recognized artists. While the gallery’s American Impressionist pieces initially put it on the map, Madron also features an outstanding and constantly evolving collection of modern and contemporary art, aiming to illuminate artistic connections across decades and centuries.
Madron Press, formally established in 2020, seeks to further scholarship around significant but oft-overlooked American artists. Research and past exhibitions have delved into the creative spirits and legacies of these artists, the culmination of which has resulted into the publications Robert Vonnoh: American Impressionist and William S. Schwartz: Color and Coloratura, both available for purchase online.