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Can You Name the Sculpture in Daley Plaza Farmers Market?
- Bob Benenson
- Jun 5
- 2 min read
Trick Question: The Famed Picasso Work Has No Name
I don't know of any art work with which I've come in contact more often than the massive metal sculpture by Pablo Picasso that was unveiled in 1967 in what is now Chicago's Daley Plaza. Not because I specifically sought it out. It's because on Thursdays from May until October, it is smack in the middle of the Daley Plaza Farmers Market — a decades-long pillar of the local food community and the flagship of the city-run Chicago Farmers Markets.
As I had another late morning appointment, I dashed downtown early for my first Daley Plaza market visit of the year. Apparently I was in too big a hurry because the above photo is not my best. Here's a better one, from last year.
There was a lot of hoopla when the statue was unveiled in 1967, as many city boosters believed it gave a more cosmopolitan aura to a city then still mainly known for its heavy industry ("hog butcher to the world," as poet Carl Sandburg put it).
The piece, done in Picasso's avant-garde cubist style, also has had its distractors, and the mixed opinions about what it is supposed to be have never been resolved. Picasso did not help in that matter as he did not give a name to the sculpture.
In any case, the Picasso is one of Chicago's major tourist attractions, and it gives Daley Plaza the distinction of having an internationally renowned art work in the middle of its farmers market.
Another constant of this market is the anchor role of Nichols Farm & Orchard, based in Marengo, Illinois, which has been a vendor there since its earlier days. Nichols is the biggest diversified produce farm in the Chicago region.
The market also accommodates smaller vendors, such as D&S Farms of Berrien Springs, Michigan, one of Daley Plaza's best fruit stands.
My modest market haul: cherry tomatoes, asparagus, chives (with blossoms that I'll turn into a brightly colored vinegar), and spinach from Nichols, and sugar snap peas and strawberries from D&S.
A busy market weekend is coming up. Check out Local Food Forum's Farmers Market Tracker to find a place convenient to you... and support our local farmers.
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