Rainy Day in Chicago
1945
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 27.7 × 17.1 cm (10 7/8 × 6 3/4 in.) sheet: 35.7 × 27.7 cm (14 1/16 × 10 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kiyoko Lerner
Accession Number
2012.115.55
Art Historical Context
**Rainy Day in Chicago**1945) is a captivating gelatin silver print by Nathan Lerner an innovative American photographer and educator closely associated with Chicago's vibrant mid-20th-century art scene. Measuring 27.7 × 17.1 cm, this intimate image evokes the moody atmosphere of urban life during the post-World War II era, when cities like Chicago pulsed with resilience and everyday drama. Lerner's work often blended documentary realism with experimental flair, influenced by his time at the Institute of Design where he explored light, form, and abstraction. The gelatin silver print medium, a...
About the Artist
Nathan Lerner
Nathan Lerner (1913–1997), born in Chicago as the second of three sons to Ukrainian immigrants Louis and Ida Lerner, grew up in an artistic family—his older brother was a writer, his younger a flutist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, his mother later painted watercolors, and his father became a temple cantor. At age nine, he attended Saturday children's art classes at the Art Institute of Chicago und...