Identity:
Charles L. Hutchinson was a banker, philanthropist and collector of paintings and prints.
Life:
Hutchinson was President of the Corn Exchange Bank and used his share of the family fortune to support a number of educational and cultural projects in Chicago. He served as President of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1882-1924 and on the Board of Trustees of the newly founded University of Chicago in the 1890s.
He was also a leading member of the Caxton Club, founded in 1895 to support fine printing at the height of the Arts and Crafts movement. It was as a member of the Club that he was in touch with WHistler in 1900.
Bibliography:
Piehl, Frank J., The Caxton Club 1895 - 1995 - Celebrating A Century of the Book in Chicago, Chicago, 1995; http://www.caxtonclub.org (accessed 4 June 2004). Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz, Culture & the City. Cultural Philanthropy in Chicago from the 1880s to 1917, Lexington, Kentucky, 1976.