Crossman Gallery holds major exhibit of Chicago Imagist artists
September 2, 2009
Since its unofficial beginning at a Hyde Park art show in 1966, the "Chicago Imagist" style has defined an irreverent and distinctly Chicago approach to art.
The Imagists, though very much aware of the traditions of contemporary art, learned some novel approaches to artmaking at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, said Michael Flanagan, director of the Crossman Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
"They tended to ignore mainstream sources for art and, instead, featured cartoonish drawings, surrealism and humor. After a number of exhibitions at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago the 'Hairy Who' (a term the artists used to describe themselves) began to have a critical following," Flanagan said. "The Imagists were never a formal group but their work, which has its roots in the period following World War II and continues today, is one of America's distinctive art forms."
The Crossman Gallery, 950 W. Main Street, Whitewater, will feature a major exhibition of the Chicago Imagist artists from Thursday, Sept. 10, through Saturday, Oct. 17. A reception introducing the exhibition will be held at the gallery from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 6 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Flanagan said the university organized the exhibit because he learned that contemporary students aren't as familiar with the Chicago Imagists as he hopes they will become.
"When I was in graduate school at Northern Illinois University, I frequently attended exhibits of work by Imagist artists, visited studios and got to know some of the curators who were organizing displays of their work," Flanagan said.
"I also visited the homes of collectors who emulated the look and feel of the artists' own studios; the style had a very definite feel to it. When I recently gave a presentation to a theory class in the Art Department, I realized that this work was not as well known to the students as it might be and that gave me some motivation to put the show together."
The exhibition explores the development of the Imagist movement from the period immediately following World War II to the present. It will include drawings, prints, watercolors and mixed media pieces on paper.
The show includes artists Ivan Albright, Leon Golub, Nancy Spero, Ray Yoshida, Don Baum (who organized the original Hyde Park exhibitions), Roger Brown, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, H.C. Westermann, Karl Wirsum, Robert Lostutter, Ellen Lanyon, Phyllis Bramson and Michael Noland.
For more information, visit the Crossman Gallery blog: blogs.uww.edu/crossman.