Chicago Imagists

Chicago art group

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The Chicago Imagists were a group of artists associated with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1960s. Influenced by Pop art, commercial art, and comic strips, they created figurative, narrative, and surrealistic works that contrasted with the abstract art prevalent in New York at the time.1

Key figures included Roger Brown, Jim Nutt, Gladys Nilsson, Karl Wirsum, and Ed Paschke. Their art often featured bright colors and seemingly simple compositions, but with an underlying ominous, satirical, or critical perspective on contemporary life, culture, and politics. The term "Imagists" was coined by art critic Franz Schulze, and exhibitions like "False Image" and "Chicago Imagist Art" helped bring the group wider recognition. This movement is distinct from the Anglo-American literary movement of Imagism.123

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Roger Brown
A Chicago Imagist
In the late 1960s critics began to group together a generation of artists who had studied at SAIC, though for the most part their styles were fairly divergent. Thus, Brown became associated not only with the so-called Hairy Who (consisting of Jim Nutt,…
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In the late 1960s critics began to group together a generation of artists who had studied at SAIC, though for the most part their styles were fairly divergent. Thus, Brown became associated not only with the so-called Hairy Who (consisting of Jim Nutt,…
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Ed Paschke
…to be known as the Chicago Imagists. The Imagists’ work was figurative and was characterized by grotesque or risqué imagery and overt references to pop culture, sexuality, and violence. In bold, sometimes neon, colour and in a style that synthesized the effect of Andy Warhol’s photo-based paintings with Photo-realism and…
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…to be known as the Chicago Imagists. The Imagists’ work was figurative and was characterized by grotesque or risqué imagery and overt references to pop culture, sexuality, and violence. In bold, sometimes neon, colour and in a style that synthesized the effect of Andy Warhol’s photo-based paintings with Photo-realism and…
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Joseph Yoakum
…at SAIC known as the Imagists (Roger Brown, Art Green, Philip Hanson, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, and Karl Wirsum), many of whom claimed Yoakum as an inspiration to their own work as well. In 1969 he was included with them in an…
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…at SAIC known as the Imagists (Roger Brown, Art Green, Philip Hanson, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Suellen Rocca, Barbara Rossi, and Karl Wirsum), many of whom claimed Yoakum as an inspiration to their own work as well. In 1969 he was included with them in an…
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