The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago has contributed approximately 2,600 images of modern and contemporary art and exhibition installations to the Artstor Digital Library.

From its opening in 1915, the Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago has been a leading space for innovative contemporary art and programming. Founded by faculty members, the Society is an independent, non-collecting museum that combines an experimental ethos with focused inquiry. In its first several decades, the Renaissance Society hosted Férnand Leger’s inaugural exhibition in the United States, as well the emerging work of László Moholy-Nagy, Isamu Noguchi, the Blue Rider group, among other groundbreaking artists.

For more than a century, the Renaissance Society has persevered, presciently exhibiting challenging work by emerging artists prior to their “discovery.” Its approximately 3,400 participating artists have included Henri Matisse, Alexander Calder, Käthe Kollwitz, Joseph Cornell, Joseph Kosuth, Louise Bourgeois, Dan Graham, Mike Kelley, Isa Genzken, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Kerry James Marshall, Joan Jonas, Steve McQueen, Danh Vō, Nora Schultz, and Mathias Poledna.

In addition to its robust exhibition program, the Renaissance Society sponsors concerts, performances, film and video screenings, poetry and fiction readings, and lectures, as well as supporting publications.