‘”The two men behind the collaborative exhibition that details and celebrates the work of artist Jack Simmerling are William Tyre and Tim Blackburn, and one day last week, they were proudly showing off their creative handiwork.
“They have done a compelling job in their “Jack Simmerling: Through His Eyes,” which takes up most of the ground floor space of the Ridge Historical Society, charmingly housed in a 1922 house.
“The Ridge Historical Society has exhibited Simmerling’s work in the past, but this show is more expansive, covering his life and work so thoroughly that it provides a punctuation mark to his importance to Chicago art and history.
“He is there in the dozens of watercolors, sketches and pen-and-ink drawings on the walls, in the artifacts and materials saved from the trash heaps of razed mansions, in the tiny models he made as a teenager of the interiors of bygone homes, in interactive maps, printed exhibit panels and a video interview.
“Even those who knew or think they knew Simmerling will be enlightened, for the exhibition is packed with such facts as Simmerling’s ‘first paid commissions were for the State Bank of Blue Island and the Pullman Trust and Savings Bank, each of which purchased a painting annually for their Christmas cards,’ that his maternal grandfather played piano in silent movie houses and that he painted every day from 4-9 a.m.
“The exhibit thoughtfully and entertainingly combines Blackburn’s research into Simmerling’s work in the Beverly and Morgan Park communities, with Tyre’s focus on Simmerling documenting Prairie Avenue.
“He has remained a part of the city. In addition to his presence at the Glessner House, there is a gallery at the Beverly Art Center named in his honor. And it is only a short walk to the Heritage Gallery at 1907 W. 103rd St. This is where you can find Simmerling’s work and where you would have found him for more than three decades, working alongside his daughter and expert framer, Victoria. She is still there.
“The Ridge Historical Society show, originally scheduled to end in February, has been extended until April 26. ‘As you might expect in our community, the exhibit has been popular,” says Blackburn. ‘And so many people who came in on Sunday thanked us for keeping it open longer.’
“Seeing this exhibition, I was thrown back to a long-ago day I spent with Simmerling. He took me to his house, which was like a museum, filled with the accumulated ‘treasures’ of his lively past, the city’s past. It was also home to a Bernese mountain dog named Molly, four cats and a talking bird named David.
“That was the day he told me, ‘I have always been drawn to the past, to preserving it.’
“No one did that better or with more artful affection.” (Kogan, Chicago Tribune, 3/10/26)