The political and artistic climate of 1968 will be explored on the 40th anniversary of that epic year in an art exhibit titled "1968: Art and Politics in Chicago," which opens Sept. 18 at the DePaul University Art Museum, 2350 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago.

The exhibit, which runs through Nov. 23, features the work of international luminaries such as Andy Warhol, Jim Dine and Claes Oldenburg as well as local artists such as Ellen Lanyon, Don Baum and Gladys Nilsson. Curated by Patricia Kelly, an assistant professor of art history at DePaul, the exhibition brings together 42 works created in response to the turbulent events surrounding the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, where rioting erupted after police and Vietnam War protestors clashed.

The show kicks off with an opening reception from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sept. 18 at the museum. Artwork featured in the exhibition ranges from Barnett Newman's formidable minimalist steel sculpture titled "Lace Curtain for Mayor Daley" to Ellen Lanyon's image of Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson conceived as a giant puppet. In conjunction with the exhibit, a series of films will also be shown and a symposium will be held in October. All are free and open to the public.

"The exhibition explores the response of the Chicago arts community to the 1968 Democratic convention 40 years later," Kelly said. "With the United States again a nation at war, the questions posed by the exhibit regarding the social responsibility of artists and the relationship between politics and art are crucial and timely."

Museum Director Louise Lincoln said it is the first time that many of the works have been seen publicly since 1968. "They make visible the passion and tragedy of that moment in time, one of the most important and transformative in recent American history."

In conjunction with the exhibit, a series of films and documentaries about 1968 also will be shown.

This exhibition and film series are sponsored by a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art as part of its "American Art American City" program, a multi-year initiative that encourages residents and visitors to explore the diverse array of American art on display in museums, galleries and public spaces in Chicago.

The DePaul Art Museum is open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

For more information about "1968: Art and Politics in Chicago" or other museum programs and exhibitions, please call 773/325-7506 or visit http://museums.depaul.edu/artwebsite/.

- THE TIMES