When you think about presidential libraries, you probably don’t picture fine art. Among the 13 institutions in the United States dedicated to a more recent slate of presidents, only one features a notable commission: an expansive mural created in 1960-61 by regionalist Thomas Hart Benton for the lobby of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.

Chicago will be the exception, keeping with President Barack Obama’s vision for a center that veers far from the conventional approach to presidential libraries. Obama and his wife, Michelle, envisioned art as being a fundamental part of the $800 million Obama Presidential Center when it opens on Juneteenth after 10 years of planning and construction.

With the couple’s love of art as impetus, 30 famous and not-so-famous artists (including two duos) have been commissioned to create 28 large-scale works for the four-building complex on 19.3 acres on Chicago’s South Side. The Jackson Park site, intended as a vehicle for youth engagement and community revitalization, will not hold Oval Office archives. Rather, it will function as a hub for Chicagoans to get together — whether it’s through the campus athletic center, its library branch or its art gallery.

Setting it even further apart from its predecessors, this presidential center has its own curator who has zeroed in on a varied mix of artists from up-and-comers to contemporary masters. Her list includes some of Chicago’s most prominent Black artists, including multimedia artist Theaster Gates, welded-steel sculptor Richard Hunt and sculptor/installation artist Nick Cave (in collaboration with in Portland, Oregon, indigenous textile artist Marie Watt).

The arts and humanities were an essential feature of the Obama White House and continue to be a major part of the couple’s work today, said Virginia Shore, the Obama Center’s curator of commissions.

“It is a belief in art being reflective of our national soul,” she said. “Those are the president’s words — that art opens minds and nourishes souls — and we know this to be true.”

All but a handful of the chosen artists have been announced. The list also includes such art world heavy hitters as abstract painter Mark Bradford; Ethiopian-born painter Julie Mehretu; and graphic artist Jenny Holzer, whose public works have popped up on everything from billboards and LED tickers to T-shirts.

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