PORTAGE PARK — The 31 screen prints making up the "Vonnegut's Odyssey" exhibit now on display at the National Veterans Art Museum have been acquired and added to the museum's permanent collection, administrators announced Tuesday.
The prints, collected by artist and Iraq War veteran Ash Kyrie, show illustrations by "Slaughterhouse V" author Kurt Vonnegut capturing his difficult return to society after fighting in WWII. The works had previously been on loan from Joe Petro, the screen print artist who had worked directly with Vonnegut to preserve the illustrations, according to Brendan Foster, the museum's executive director.
The museum acquired the prints thanks to a donation by the Nielsen family, in honor of the late artist Faith Nielsen, herself a mother of wartime veterans.
"This is a very important acquisition for us," Foster said. "This is world-class art by a world-class author who was also a prolific illustrator."
Now that the museum owns the prints, the curators have the option to bring them back out for future exhibits or travel them to other cities for pop-up shows, Foster said.
On top of the illustrations and two photos of the author, the "Vonnegut's Odyssey" exhibit also features a desk with some of Vonnegut's original manuscripts from the novel "Slaughterhouse V," along with a replica of the typewriter he used.
'Vonnegut's Odyssey" will remain on display in the main gallery of the museum, 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., until May 6.
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