Route 66 is the famous thoroughfare that shepherded eager travelers to and fro across the country. Although it has since fallen to the wayside in favor of speedy highways, Route 66 still stands as a testament to America’s love affair with the automobile and the places it has taken us. Now open at Richard Norton Gallery in Chicago is Summer Road Trip!, an exhibition that will highlight works that celebrate those roads and the destinations at their end.
The number of works in the show: 66, of course. 
A. George Miller (1905-1984), Untitled (The Road), ca. 1950s. Oil on board, 15 x 22 in., signed lower right: ‘A. George Miller’. #7260.
Gerrit Sinclair (1890-1955), News Stand, 1951. Watercolor and graphite on paper, 18 x 15½ in., signed lower right: ‘G.V. Sinclair’, signed, titled, numbered and dated on reverse. #4432.
“We chose works that honor and represent the American Scene, from coast to coast and everything in between,” says Susan Klein, the gallery director. “Watercolors from Pittsburg and Seattle to lovely scenes from Arizona to works of beaches and swimming scenes and mountains…it’s all kinds of fun.”
Key artists in the show include Francis Chapin, Werner Drewes, Harold Haydon and Gerrit Sinclair, whose 1951 watercolor and graphite News Stand shows a bustling crowd walking past a street lined with cars and passing motorists. The works span all kinds of movements, including realism, Southwest Modernism, Bauhaus, abstraction and much more. “It shows the diversity of America, from the beautiful landscape to the artists as well,” Klein says. “We are a big country, so it’s been quite enjoyable putting all the works together to tell this story.”
Francis Chapin (1899-1965), On the Road, ca. 1930. Oil on canvas board, 7½ x 10 in., signed lower right: ‘F. Chapin’. #3288.
Werner Drewes (1899-1985), Wind River, Wyoming, 1956. Oil on vellum, 8½ x 10¾ in., signed and dated lower right: ‘Drewes -55-’, titled and numbered on reverse. #15344.
Earle Thomas Raine (1911-2005), Untitled (Street Scene), 1937. Watercolor on paper, 21 x 15 in., signed and dated lower right: ‘Raine 1-3-37’. #16093.
While some collectors may not be traveling yet—the works are all available online—the works are certainly reminders of better days, when the whole country was open and ready for visitors. “This may not be the summer we wanted, but these works represent the summer we aspire to,” Klein adds.
Other works include magnificent beach scenes from Malvin Marr Albright (Zsissly) and Rainey Bennett; three varied works from William C. Buxton, including a street scene filled with color; a grouping of swimmers by Frederica Ritter Cutcheon; Drewes’ abstracted landscapes; numerous graphite land- and cityscapes from George Snow Hill; and 20 works from Chapin that originate from every corner of his career.
The exhibition will come down August 21, but will remain online and in the gallery’s extensive inventory. —
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