19th International Watercolors Exhibition, Circuited by the Art Institute of Chicago, June 13-July 14, 1940

The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 million people annually. Its collection, stewarded by 11 curatorial departments, is encyclopedic, and includes many iconic works. Its permanent collection of nearly 300,000 works of art is augmented by more than 30 special exhibitions mounted yearly that illuminate aspects of the collection and present cutting-edge curatorial and scientific research.

As a research institution, the Art Institute also has a conservation and conservation science department, five conservation laboratories, and one of the largest art history and architecture libraries in the country, the Ryerson and Burnham Libraries. The growth of the collection has warranted several additions to the museum's 1893 building, which was constructed for the World's Columbian Exposition. The most recent expansion, the Modern Wing designed by Renzo Piano, opened in 2009 and increased the museum's footprint to nearly one million square feet, making it the second-largest art museum in the United States. The Art Institute is associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. From 1890, the Art Institute held an annual exhibition of painting and sculpture, which would often tour the United States. This exhibition at the Legion of Honor was the only time the exhibition would come to the Fine Arts Museums.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Institute_of_Chicago