Art Institute cuts William Eggleston's book signing short

There are moments in life that seem too good to be true. And that's usually when Murphy's Law strikes you down with a vengeance. I was elated about William Eggleston's first, American, retrospective exhibit coming to the Art Institute and even more worked up to find out that he would be on-hand signing copies of the book of his catalog. According to the Art Institute's site, the signing ran from 3:30pm to 5pm, so when I arrived at 4 o'clock, I assumed everything was going according to plan. The line was huge. Whether the exhibit caused the commotion or the city's penny-pinchers emerged from their apartments for the last Free February weekend, I do not know, but the place was packed. As I prepared to resign my fate to cattle formation for the next hour, a security guard suddenly popped up and informed me that the line was now closed and they weren't allowing any more people. This was at 4:10pm. Almost a full hour before the advertised end time. Thanks, Art Institute for misleading and preventing me from meeting one of my favorite photographers. Why don't you just stomp on my heart while you're at it? Then maybe William Eggleston can take a picture of it and you can add it to the exhibit.

I'm not sure if this was a case of a rogue security guard throwing his weight around, or shutting down the line early had always been the intention of the museum, but if you're going to close up shop early, I'd appreciate a heads-up. Had I known, I would have planned differently and arrived earlier. So much for wanting to purchase a museum membership. I'll take my membership elsewhere. I hear the MCA is more punctual.