Gladys Nilsson facts for kids

Gladys M. Nilsson (born May 6, 1940) is an American artist. She was one of the first members of a group called the Hairy Who Chicago Imagists. This group of artists made art that showed real things, and they were active in the 1960s and 1970s. Gladys Nilsson is married to another artist, Jim Nutt, who was also part of the Hairy Who group.

About Gladys Nilsson's Life

Gladys Nilsson was born in Chicago, Illinois. Her parents had moved there from Sweden. She grew up in Chicago and went to Lake View High School. While in high school, she also took extra drawing classes.

Later, Gladys went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. There, she met Jim Nutt, who would become her husband. They got married in July 1961. Their son, Claude, was born in 1962. Gladys first painted with oil paints. But when she was pregnant, she switched to watercolors. This was to avoid the strong smells of turpentine, which is used with oil paints.

In 1963, Gladys and Jim met Whitney Halstead. He was an art history professor at their school. He became their teacher, guide, and friend. He also introduced them to Don Baum. Don Baum was in charge of exhibitions at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. In 1964, Gladys and Jim started teaching art classes for kids at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Gladys Nilsson's picture was included in a famous poster from 1972. It was called "Some Living American Women Artists" by Mary Beth Edelson.

Gladys Nilsson's Art Style

Gladys Nilsson's art was inspired by many different things. These included German Expressionism and 15th Century Italian painting. She also looked at Egyptian tomb murals and Cubism. Other artists like James Ensor and Paul Klee also influenced her.

Her art style often looked like a mix of surrealism and pop art. It combined fantasy and cartoon elements. She mostly painted human figures. She would make these figures look bigger, multiply them, or change their shapes.

The Chicago Tribune newspaper once said her paintings showed "a strange mix of fantasy and everyday life." They described her art as a "continuous parade of wild images."

The Hairy Who Art Group

In 1964, Jim Nutt and Gladys Nilsson were teaching art to children. They taught at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago. Jim, Gladys, and another artist named James Falconer had an idea. They wanted to have a group art show with their friends Art Green and Suellen Rocca.

Don Baum, the exhibition director, liked their idea. He also suggested they include Karl Wirsum. The name for their group show became "Hairy Who?". This name then became the name of their art group. Karl Wirsum came up with the name. It was a playful reference to an art critic named Harry Bouras.

The Hairy Who group had art shows at the Hyde Park Art Center in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969. Their 1968 show also traveled to the San Francisco Art Institute. The last show in 1969 went to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Later Art Career

In 1969, an art gallery owner in Chicago named Phyllis Kind agreed to show Gladys Nilsson's and Jim Nutt's art. She gave both of them their first solo art shows. In the same year, Gladys and Jim moved to Sacramento, California. Jim worked there as an art professor.

In 1973, Gladys Nilsson became the first Hairy Who artist to have her own solo show. This show was at the famous Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. In 1974, Gladys and her family moved back to Chicago. They settled in Wilmette in 1976.

Gladys Nilsson usually paints with watercolors on paper. But she has also made art using collage. In her more recent work, she has cut out pictures from fashion magazines. She uses these to explore ideas about what is considered beautiful for women.

In the spring of 2010, there was a special show of her art. It was called a "retrospective," which means it looked back at her art over many years. This show was at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.

Where Gladys Nilsson's Art Is Kept

Gladys Nilsson's artworks are part of many important art collections. You can find her art in these museums and galleries:

• Art Institute of Chicago
• Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University, Indiana
• Kresge Art Museum, Michigan State University, Lansing
• Los Angeles County Museum of Art
• Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin
• Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia
• Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
• Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, Indiana
• Milwaukee Art Museum
• Morgan Library, New York
• Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
• Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna
• New Orleans Museum of Art
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia
• Philadelphia Museum of Art
• Phoenix Art Museum
• Roger Brown Study Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
• Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
• Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut