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Mar. 23--Going to an art museum for child-friendliness is like going to a hot dog stand for the salad.
What a parent of boys aged 7 and almost 5 is really looking for in a museum is child-not-unfriendly.
You want exhibits that are alluring without being skinny vases on three-legged pedestals.
You want lines on the floor and velvet ropes that make it clear where the boundaries are. Barbed wire is OK, too.
Both the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Art Institute did fine in most of those categories as we visited on successive late-winter weekends.
But the hands-down winner, in the Johnson boys' post-mortem--conducted over some surprisingly good kids' menu options at the Art Institute's Garden restaurant--was the MCA.
It's something of a surprise verdict, considering Child magazine's recent crowning of the Art Institute as the best art museum for kids in the country.
That was not Declan's view. "This was the worst museum ever," said the 4 1/2-year-old, gunning, as usual, for dramatic effect.
His older brother, Conor, more measured in his views, took my notebook and sketched out his rating: MCA 4 3/5 stars, the Art Institute only 2 1/5.
"It had more kind of fashionable art than this one," he said, "and way more good halls and staircases and more drinking fountains."
The last one may not be strictly true, but among this critical set, perception counts.
What was true is that the boys were much more engaged by the building and the art at the MCA.
"Cool" escaped their lips several times, and Declan parked himself in front of one piece for a matter of minutes, a possible record for a presentation that did not include SpongeBob.
The museum's large open spaces didn't confine them. Ditto for the circular upstairs floor plan, so welcoming that they went through it twice.
Without grasping the deeper meaning the piece wanted to convey, they were entranced by "HIM," a sculpture of a kneeling, boy-sized figure who turns out to be Hitler.
And they eagerly returned to Dan Flavin's room of yellow and pink light bulbs.
Declan, in particular, seemed taken with Sarah Sze's "Proportioned to the Groove," an installation that was like a playroom project on steroids.
It might have been the intricate model city that sealed the deal for my son. It might have been the level of detail that captivated this highly observant boy. But, honestly, it was probably the part of the work that contained laundry.
"I see a pair of underwear," he said, a pronouncement of the highest praise.
The MCA can be a nerve-wracking place for parents, however, because the art tends not to have the traditional boundaries. One piece incorporates a red line on the floor opposite the main body of the work, and the boys went right for it, naturally.
Wandering through the figurative art exhibit on the second, entry floor--including a giant baby sculpture and one with the Pink Panther--I thought I heard a guard, on walkie-talkie, cautioning a peer to "watch the little blond one," but that may have been a nervous parent projecting.
Still, the kids were engaged throughout in a way that surprised me, a dad who had figured the time for art museums would be later. Even the bathroom drew praise.
"What, they have a nice little sink for me to wash my hands?" said Declan in obvious delight at the child-sized detail.
There was no little sink even in the Art Institute bathroom adjacent to the museum's designated kid starting point, the Kraft Education Center right below the main entrance.
The center itself is not an amazing kids' space, but a solid one, with some circular pathways and hands-on exhibits. The DIY art tables in the center's front part kept the boys busy for a time crafting their first-ever Kabuki masks.
But they shrugged through the Touch Gallery, a series of sculptures you can actually manhandle that had impressed the Child mag reviewers. And they liked the Thorne miniature room not for the countless exhibits of tiny rooms behind glass but for the ability to walk along the raised viewing platform at the room's perimeter.
Upstairs, the paintings and the furniture were mostly a yawn, despite my attempts to point out items of interest therein. The only hits--besides the gym-like space of Louis Sullivan's preserved Chicago Stock Exchange trading room--were the medieval suits of armor and affiliated weaponry, and a modern painting highlighting a Wrigley pack.
"They have pictures of gum?" said Conor.
When the visit had--mercifully for him--ended, he said that the Art Institute "is probably for really young people and really old people, not middle-aged," like his 7-year-old self. "It has quite a lot of old-fashioned stuff."
But some hint of culture must have rubbed off on them because when we sat down for lunch at the upscale, Garden restaurant, they behaved with something approaching decorum
"I'm not an art lover, that's for sure," said Conor. "Write that down, Dads."
The place, the art: MCA: Lots of big, fanciful pieces in an open, but well-defined space. Art Institute of Chicago: An OK kids area in the Kraft Education Center, but, bigger picture, overwhelming and too traditional--paintings on walls--in most galleries.
Fatigue factor: MCA: 75 relatively cheerful minutes, then brunch. AIC: 90 minutes, but the grumbling started halfway through.
Food: MCA: Sit-down brunch from Puck's restaurant is a (not-inexpensive) treat with plenty of great choices for kids. AIC: Surprisingly good young kids' choices on Garden restaurant menu, plus sophisticated fare for their folks. But the dining room was just too institutional.
Staff: Friendly at both places and helpful when asked.
Big draws: MCA: Maurizio Cattelan's dinosaur-sized cat skeleton and Sarah Sze's room-sized urban dystopia featuring underwear on the floor. AIC: The suits of armor, and Louis Sullivan's Chicago Stock Exchange trading room, which was empty so they could run in it after lunch.
Noise: Fine, in both cases. Hardly worth mentioning.
Map: MCA's "Family Guide" is impressive, with nice photographs of some key pieces to bring home. Art Institute's family map has appealing, cartoonish graphics, better for kids. Neither, however, was readily available at the front desk.
Gift shop: MCA: Not just a great museum store, a great store, pushing high design and cleverness. AIC: More traditional, but plenty of creative kid stuff. One problem: The chief kids' area is located past open shelves of colorful glass work.
The Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Ave.; 312-443-3600
Hours: 10:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Mon.-Wed., Fri.; 10:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Thurs.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.-Sun.
Suggested admission: $12; $7 children, students and seniors; children 5 and under free. (Free admission on Tuesdays.)
The Museum of Contemporary Art
220 E. Chicago Ave.; 312-280-2660
Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Tues.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wed.-Sun. (Closed Mon.)
Admission: $10; $6 students and seniors; children 12 and under free. (Free admission on Tuesdays.)
sajohnson@tribune.com
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