Exhibition

This exhibition was organized to coincide with the 1933–34 World's Fair, which was the second to be held in Chicago. The show was conceived as an overview of American collecting over the past century and featured 1200 European paintings, drawings, and sculptures, ranging in date from the thirteenth-century to 1932, that were on loan from dealers, collectors, and museums in the United States. In addition to Jacques and Berthe Lipchitz, the portrait in the Art Institute's collection, the show included a second Modigliani painting, Gypsy Woman and Child, on loan from Chester Dale.

A second version of this exhibition, also titled A Century of Progress, was held the following summer at the Art Institute (see 1934 Chicago).