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Gladys Nilsson

Gladys Nilsson - Artists - Garth Greenan Gallery

Photograph by Alexa Viscius, 2020

Born in Chicago in 1940, Gladys Nilsson studied painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She first came to prominence in 1966, when she joined five other recent Art Institute graduates (Jim Falconer, Art Green, Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca, and Karl Wirsum) for the first of a series of group exhibitions called the Hairy Who. In 1973, she became one of the first women to have a solo-exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 1990, she accepted a teaching position at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is now a professor.

Nilsson is known for her densely layered and meticulously constructed watercolors and collages. Like many of the Hairy Who artists, Nilsson employed a type of horror vacui; many of her works feel filled to the brim with winding, playful imagery. Her work, centered on the figure, often focuses on aspects of human sexuality and its inherent contradictions.

Since 1966, Nilsson’s work has been the subject of over 50 solo exhibitions, including sixteen at Phyllis Kind Gallery (1970–1979, 1981–1983, 1987, 1991, and 1994, Chicago and New York), and two at The Candy Store (1971 and 1987, Folsom, California). Her work has also been featured in many important museum exhibitions, such as: Human Concern/Personal Torment (1969, Whitney Museum of American Art); Who Chicago? (1981, Camden Art Center, London); Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art (1992, Los Angeles County Museum of Art); Chicago Imagists (2011, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin); and What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present (2014, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence).

Nilsson’s work is featured in the collections of major museums around the world, including: the Art Institute of Chicago; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin; the Milwaukee Art Museum; the Morgan Library, New York; the Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art; the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut.

Gladys Nilsson is a recipient of the 2024 Anonymous Was A Woman Award.

Gladys Nilsson

 

1940
Born in Chicago, Illinois

 

EDUCATION

1958–1962
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1966
Gladys Nilsson, Marjorie Dell Gallery, Chicago

1969
Gladys Nilsson, Clay Street Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, June 10–28

1970
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, January–February

1971
Gladys Nilsson, Art Gallery, Chico State College, Chico, California
Gladys Nilsson, Candy Store Gallery, Folsom, California

1973
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, February
Gladys Nilsson, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, April 12–May 13

1974
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago

1975
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

1976
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, November 22–December 20

1977
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

1978
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago

1979
Gladys Nilsson, Portland Center for the Visual Arts, Oregon, January 18–February 18
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, February–March

1979–1980
Gladys Nilsson: Survey of Works on Paper, 1967–1979, Fine Arts Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, September 17–October 17, 1979; Art Gallery, Corpus Christi State University, Texas, January 8–31, 1980; Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin, February 17–March 23, 1980

1981
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, January–February

1982
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York

1983
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, May–June

1984
Gladys Nilsson: Greatest Hits from Chicago, Selected Works 1967–1984, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, May 5–June 23

1985
Gladys Nilsson, Galerie Bonnier, Geneva, Switzerland, April

1987
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, January–February
Gladys Nilsson, Candy Store, Folsom, California, November
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, November 20–December 15

1991
Gladys Nilsson, Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, March 8–April 6
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, November 1–December 3

1992
Gladys Nilsson, Xochipilli Gallery, Birmingham, Minnesota, April 2–May 2
Gladys Nilsson, Ovsey Gallery, Los Angeles, October 17–November 14 

1993
Sum Daze: Hand-Colored Etchings by Gladys Nilsson, Dime Museum, Chicago, September 10–October 4 
Gladys Nilsson, Janet Fleisher Gallery, Philadelphia, November 17–December 23

1994
Gladys Nilsson, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, California, February 8–March 27
Gladys Nilsson, Ovsey Gallery, Los Angeles, November 19–December 23

1994–1995 
Gladys Nilsson, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, December 2, 1994–January 3, 1995

1996
Gladys Nilsson, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, March–April

1997
Gladys Nilsson: Watercolors, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, February 5–March 1 
Gladys Nilsson, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, California, March 3–30

1998
Gladys Nilsson: A Print Survey, Printworks Gallery, Chicago, September 11–October 10
Gladys Nilsson, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, September 11–October 17
Gladys Nilsson, John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, California, October 6–November 1

2000
Gladys Nilsson, Rosemont College, Rosemont, Pennsylvania, February 3–March 3

2001
Gladys Nilsson, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, October 19–December 1

2002
Gladys Nilsson, Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, Philadelphia, February 9–March 9

2003
Gladys Nilsson, Adrian College, Adrian, Michigan, January 6–25
Gladys Nilsson, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, October 24–December 6

2004
Gladys Nilsson, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, February 13–March 13

2005
Gladys Nilsson, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, September 9–October 18
Gladys Nilsson, University Art Gallery, Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, Michigan, October 3–29

2006
Gladys Nilsson, Tarble Art Center, Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, January 21–February 26

2007
Gladys Nilsson: 25 Years of Watercolors, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, May 4–June 30 

2008
Gladys Nilsson, Luise Ross Gallery, New York, April 17–May 31

2009
Gladys Nilsson, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, April 24–June 3

2010
Gladys Nilsson: Works from 1966–2010, Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, April 9–May 23 

2012
Gladys Nilsson, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, September 7–October 20

2013
Gladys Nilsson: New Watercolors, Tory Folliard Gallery, Milwaukee, June 7–July 6

2014
Gladys Nilsson, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, October 23–December 20

2017
Gladys Nilsson: The 1980s, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, January 12–February 18

2019
Gladys Nilsson: New Work, Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago, September 13–November 3

2020
Gladys Nilsson: Honk! Fifty Years of Painting, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, January 30–March 14
Gladys Nilsson: Honk! Fifty Years of Painting, Matthew Marks Gallery, New York, January 30–March 14

2020–2021
Gladys Nilsson: Out of this World, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin, August 5, 2020–June 6, 2021
Gladys Nilsson: Old Lady Drawings, 1990–2020, Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, November 7, 2020–January 16, 2021

2021
Gladys Nilsson: Games, Hales, London, United Kingdom, October 28–December 11

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1966
The Hairy Who, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, February 25–April 9

1967
Hairy Who, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, February 24–March 24

1968
The Hairy Who Drawing Show, School of Visual Arts, New York, February–March
Now! Hairy Who Makes You Smell Good, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, April 5–May 11; San Francisco Art Institute, May 3–29

1969
Chicago: Part II, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, February 14–March 14
Don Baum Says: “Chicago Needs Famous Artists,” Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, March 10–April 13
Hairy Who, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, April 15–May 17
The Spirit of the Comics, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, October 1–November 9

1969–1970
Human Concern/Personal Torment: The Grotesque in American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, October 14–November 30, 1969; Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley, January 20–March 1, 1970

1970
Surplus Slop from the Windy City, San Francisco Art Institute, April 16–May 16
Wake Up Yer Scalp with Chicago, Richard Feigen Gallery, New York, November

1971
Boxed Top Art, Art Gallery, Illinois State University, Normal, April 2–30
Phyllis Teens, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, May–June

1972
Chicago Imagist Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, May 13–June 25

1973–1974
XII Bienal de São Paulo, October 5–November 20, 1973; Bogotá, Columbia, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, January 15–February 21, 1974; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, March 25–April 29, 1974; Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, May 27–July 1, 1974; Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City, July 29–September 9, 1974

1976
Contemporary Images in Watercolor, Akron Art Institute, Ohio, March 14–April 25; Indianapolis Museum of Art, June 29–August 8; Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York, October 1–November 14
Old and New Works by Artists from the Phyllis Kind Gallery, Foster Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, April 19–May 5

1977
Contemporary Figurative Painting in the Midwest, Madison Art Center, Wisconsin, February 26–April 10

1978
Eleven Chicago Painters, Art Gallery, Florida State University, Tallahassee, February 12–March 3
Contemporary Chicago Painters, Art Gallery, University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, April 2–March 3
Chicago Collects Chicago, Gallery 200, Visual Arts Building, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, April 3–30

1979
Chicago Currents: The Koffler Foundation Collection, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, June 8–August 13
American Watercolorists, Mitchell Museum, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, Mount Vernon, Illinois, November 3–December 31

1979–1980
100 Artists, 100 Years: Alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, November 23, 1979–January 20, 1980

1980
Contemporary Drawings and Watercolors, Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, New York, January 19–March 2
Some Recent Art from Chicago, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, February 2–March 9
The Candy Store, De Saisset Art Museum, University of Santa Clara, California, April 11–June 15
Renderings of the Modern Woman: Figurative Images of Women by Contemporary Artists, Joseloff Gallery, Hartford Art School, University of Hartford, Connecticut, October 8–November 13
Six Artists from Chicago, The Mayor Gallery, London, November 20–December 20

1980–1981
Who Chicago? An Exhibition of Chicago Imagists, Camden Arts Centre, London, December 10, 1980–January 25, 1981; Ceolfrith Gallery, Sunderland Arts Centre, England, February 16–March 14, 1981; Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, March 21–April 30, 1981; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, May–June, 1981; Ulster Museum, Belfast, July–August, 1981

1981
A Woman’s Place, John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, April 12–May 31
Alternative Realities in Contemporary Painting, Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, April 20–May 8

1982–1983
Selected Women Painters, Castle Gallery, College of New Rochelle, New York, December 1, 1982–February 18, 1983

1983
Nilsson, Nutt, Paschke, Rocca, Wirsum, Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
Contemporary Chicago Imagists, Art Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University, Bloomington, March 1–25

1984 
80th Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, Art Institute of Chicago, March 24–May 6
Ten Years of Collecting at the MCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, April 14–June 10

1985
Drawing Acquisitions: 1981–1985, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, June 11–September 22 

1987
Drawings of the Chicago Imagists, Renaissance Society, Chicago, October 4–November 14
The Chicago Imagist Print, David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, October 4–December 6
Of New Account: The Chicago Imagists, Art Gallery, Bowling Green State University, Ohio, October 23–November 20

1988
Just Like a Woman, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina, March 15–May 15

1989
Nilsson, Nutt, Wirsum, Dean Jensen Gallery, Milwaukee

1990
Watercolor Alternatives: Four Chicago Artists: Gaines, Mejer, Nilsson, and Tenuta, South Bend Art Center, Indiana, July 23–September 2

1990–1991
Works on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Galley, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, November 18, 1990–January 6, 1991

1991
Artists and the American Yard, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin, June 7–September 15

1992
Just Plane Screwy: Metaphysical and Metaphorical Tools by Artists, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wisconsin, June 7–September 13

1992–1993
Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 18, 1992–January 3, 1993

1993
Imagery: Incongruous Juxtapositions, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, March 5–April 6
Personal Imagery: Chicago/New York, Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, September 18–October 30

1994
55th Anniversary Exhibition, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, April 30–June 11

1995
Housewives: A Celebration of Domestic Engineering, Xochipilli Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan, March 2–31
Not Just Another Pretty Face, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, April 29–May 27

1996
Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt: Works on Paper, Staller Center for the Arts, State University of New York, Stony Brook, March 9–April 13
1968, Betty Rymer Gallery, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, August 2–September 11
Second Sight: Modern Printmaking in Chicago, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, September 27–December 8

1996–1997
Trends in Post-War Chicago Art, David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, December 26, 1996–January 16, 1997

1997
Chicago: Selections from the Permanent Collection, Milwaukee Art Museum, January 9–June 15
Chicago Imagists, Then and Now, Selby Gallery, Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida, March 14–April 12

1998
Making Marks, Milwaukee Art Museum, June 12–August 23
Gladys Nilsson and Jim Nutt, Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, September 7–October 5
Art in Chicago: 1945–1995, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, November 16–March 23 

1999
Nilsson and Nutt: Et Too Whootus, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan, October 16–December 12

2000
The Likeness of Being: Contemporary Self Portraits by Sixty Women, DC Moore Gallery, New York, January 12–February 5
Chicago Loop: Imagist Art, 1949–1979, Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Stamford, Connecticut, September 15–December 6

2003
The Ganzfeld Unbound, Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York, March 27–May 3

2004–2005
Painting the Town Red, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, December 10, 2004–February 5, 2005

2005
Currents: 25 Years of Collecting Modern and Contemporary Prints, Block Museum, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, April 8–June 19

2006
Art in Chicago: Resisting Regionalism, Transforming Modernism, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, February 4–April 2
Drawn Into the World: Drawings from the MCA Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, July 8–October 15
Full Frontal: The Dirty, Lewd, Erotic Show, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, July 14–August 26
Couples Discourse, Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, October 10–December 22

2007
Masterworks of Chicago Imagism, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago, February 23–April 7
Bold Saboteurs: Collage and Construction in Chicago, Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, April 6–May 12
Celebrating a Century of Art: Teaching from the Collection, Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia, September 1–December 7
The Art of Collecting, Flint Institute of Art, Michigan, November 23–December 30

2007–2008
Hairy Who (and Some Others), Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin, October 13, 2007–January 6, 2008 

2008
Chicago Imagism: 1965–1985, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago, May 16–August 16
Hairy Who? Ha!, Art Institute of Chicago, October 7–November 3

2009
Modern and Contemporary Works on Paper, Art Institute of Chicago, March 24–September 13

2010
Chicago! Chicago!, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago, November 5–December 31

2010–2011
Touch & Go: Ray Yoshida and His Spheres of Influence, Sullivan Galleries, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, November 13, 2010–February 12, 2011

2011
The Paper Show, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, March 4–April 17

2011–2012
Chicago Imagists at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin, September 11, 2011–January 15, 2012

2012
Drawings, Russell Bowman Gallery, Chicago, February 3–April 21
Someone Else’s Dream, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, January 29–May 6

2013
Gladys Nilsson and Julia Benjamin, National Exemplar Gallery, New York, September 9–October 20

2013–2014
Hidden Treasures Unveiled: Watercolors, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, September 28, 2013–January 12, 2014

2014
Head, Western Exhibitions, Chicago, January 31–March 8

2014–2015
What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, September 19, 2014–January 4, 2015

2016
125 from the Permanent Collection, Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia, January 22–August 31
Chicago and Vicinity, Shane Campbell Gallery, Chicago, March 5–April 23
Shout for Tomorrow, Hirschl & Adler Modern, New York, May 5–June 17
Gesture Play, Simone Subal Gallery, New York, June 23–July 29

2017
Investigating Identity: Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Contemporary Art, Maier Museum of Art at Randolph College, Lynchburg, Virginia, February 3–April 9
Kings and Queens: Pinball, Imagists and Chicago, Elmhurst Art Museum, Illinois, February 25–May 7
Masterclass: A Survey of Work from the Twentieth Century, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, February 28–April 8

2017–2018
Famous Artists from Chicago, 1965–1975, Fondazione Prada, Milan, October 20, 2017–January 15, 2018

2018
You Are Who I Think You Think You Are, American Medium, New York, March 29–April 28
Breaking the Mold: Investigating Gender, Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky, April 7–September 9

2018–2019
Outliers and American Vanguard Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., January 28–May 13, 2018; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, June 24–September 30, 2018; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, November 18, 2018–March 18, 2019
Hairy Who? 1966–1969, Art Institute of Chicago, September 27, 2018–January 9, 2019
3-D Doing Things: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art, 1964–1930, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, September 8, 2018–January 6, 2019
The Time Is Now! Art Worlds of Chicago’s South Side, 1960–1980, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, September 13–December 30
West by Midwest: Geographies of Art and Kinship, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, November 17, 2018–January 27, 2019 

2019
Picture Gallery in Transformation, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago at MASP, Museum of Art São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Brazil, April 5–December 30
Beyond the Cape! Comics and Contemporary Art, Boca Raton Museum of Art, April 16–October 6
How Chicago! Imagists 1960s & 70s, Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, University of London, March–May 2019; De La War Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, June 15–September 8
Landscape Without Boundaries, Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, July 14–December 29

2020
Empowered, University of Northern Iowa Gallery of Art, Cedar Falls, January 13–February 29
Drawing 2020, Gladstone Gallery, New York, September 30–November 14

2021
Parallel Phenomena, Andrew Edlin Gallery, New York, May 13–June 26
Private Eye: The Imagist Impulse in Chicago Art, Newfields, Indianapolis Museum of Art, May 15–December 5
The Sublime in Nature, 24 Cork Street, London, June 16–July 10

2021–2022
Ways of Seeing: Three Takes on the Jack Shear Drawing Collection, The Drawing Center, New York, October 2, 2021–February 20, 2022

2022
The Candy Store: Funk, Nut, and Other Art With a Kick, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California, February 2–May 1

 

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Art Institute of Chicago

Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University, Indiana

Glenstone, Potomac, Maryland

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

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Morgan Library, New York

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

Museum of Modern Art, New York

Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna

Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington

Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas

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

Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

South Bend Museum of Art, Indiana 

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut

 

BOOKS AND CATALOGUES

Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina. Some Recent Art from Chicago. Chapel Hill, NC: Ackland Art Museum, 1980. 

Adrian, Dennis. Sight Out of Mind: Essays and Criticism on Art. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1985.

Adrian, Dennis and Richard A. Born. The Chicago Imagist Print: Ten Artists’ Works, 1958–1987. Chicago: David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, 1987.

Als, Hilton and Claire Gilman, ed. Ways of Seeing: Writings on Drawings from the Jack Shear Collection. New York: The Drawing Center, 2021.

Art Gallery, Bowling Green State University. Of New Account: Chicago Imagists. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling Green State University, 1987.

Art Gallery, Florida State University. Eleven Chicago Painters. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University, 1980.

Art Gallery, Illinois Wesleyan University. Contemporary Chicago Imagists. Bloomington, IL: Illinois Wesleyan University, 1983. 

Art Gallery, University of Northern Iowa. Contemporary Chicago Painters. Cedar Falls: University of Northern Iowa, 1978.

Art Institute of Chicago. 100 Artists, 100 Years: Alumni of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1979.

———. 80th Annual Exhibition of Artists of Chicago and Vicinity. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1967.

Collins, Bradford R. Pop Art. London and New York: Phaidon, 2012.

Cooke, Lynne. Outliers and American Vanguard Art. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2018.

Dempsey, Jim and John Corbett. Private Eye: The Imagist Impulse in Chicago Art. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, 2021.

Corbett, John, Jim Dempsey, Thea Liberty Nichols, and Dennis Adrian. Private Eye: The Imagist Impulse in Chicago Art. Indianapolis: Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, 2021.

Crocker Art Museum. The Candy Store: Funk, Nut, & Other Art with a Kick. Munich: Hirmer Publishers, 2022.

Doty, Robert. Human Concern/Personal Torment: The Grotesque in American Art. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1969.

Drake Galleries, Barat College. Exhibition 150. Lake Forest, IL: Barat College, 1968.

Falconer, Jim, Art Green, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca, and Karl Wirsum. Hairy Who (cat-a-log). Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1969.

———. The Hairy Who Sideshow. Chicago: Hyde Park Art Center, 1967.

———. The Portable Hairy Who!. Chicago: Hyde Park Art Center, 1966. 

———. Smoke Hairy Who. Chicago: Hyde Park Art Center, 1968.

Fondazione Prada. Famous Artists from Chicago, 1965–1975. Milan: Fondazione Prada, 2017.

Galerie Bonnier. Gladys Nilsson. Geneva: Galerie Bonnier, 1985. 

Galerie Bonnier. Nilsson, Nutt, Paschke, Rocca, Wirsum. Geneva: Galerie Bonnier, 1983. 

Garth Greenan Gallery, Gladys Nilsson. New York: Garth Greenan Gallery, 2014.

Greenville County Museum of Art. Just Like a Woman. Greenville, SC: Greenville County Museum of Art, 1988. 

Hadler, Mona and Kalliopi Minoudaki, eds. Pop Art and Beyond: Gender, Race and Class in the Global Sixties. London: Bloomsbury, 2020.

Hayward Gallery. Chicago Imagists: 1960s–1970s. London: Hayward Gallery, 2019.

John Michael Kohler Arts Center. A Woman’s Place. Sheboygan, WI: John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 1981.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Art at Work. New York: J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., 2016.

Katherine E. Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota. Alternative Realities in Contemporary Painting. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 1981. 

Knipe, Tony. Who Chicago?: An Exhibition of Contemporary Imagists. Sunderland, England: Ceolfrith Gallery, Sunderland Arts Center, 1980.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art. Princeton University Press, 1992. 

Lucie-Smith, Edward. Art in the Eighties. Oxford, England: Phaidon Press, 1990.

Madison Art Center. Contemporary Figurative Painting in the Midwest. Madison, WI: Madison Art Center, 1977.

Matthew Marks Gallery and Garth Greenan Gallery. Gladys Nilsson: Honk! Fifty Years of Painting. New York: Matthew Marks Gallery and Garth Greenan Gallery, 2020.

Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester. Contemporary Drawings and Watercolors. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 1980.

McCrory, Sarah, Rosie Cooper, and Lynne Warren. Chicago Imagists. London: Hayward Gallery, 2019.

Mitchell Museum, Cedarhurst Center for the Arts. American Watercolorists. Mount Vernon, IL: Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, 1979.

Museum of Art, University of Michigan. Chicago: The City and Its Artists, 1945–1978. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1978.

Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Made in Chicago: Some Resources. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1975.

Nadel, Dan. What Nerve! Alternative Figures in American Art, 1960 to the Present. Providence, RI: Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design, 2014.

Nilsson, Gladys and James Yood. Gladys Nilsson. Davis, CA: J. Natsoulas Press, 1993.

Prokopoff, Stephen S. The Sprit of the Comics. Philadelphia: Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, 1969.

Schulze, Franz. Fantastic Images: Chicago Art Since 1945. Westchester, IL: Follett Publishing Company, 1972.

Shaw, Goldene. History of the Hyde Park Art Center. Chicago: Hyde Park Art Center, 1976.

Wake Forest University. The Mark H. Reece Collection of Student-Acquired Contemporary Art. Winston-Salem: Wake Forest University, 2023.

Warren, Lynne. Alternative Spaces: A History in Chicago. Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 1984.

Whitney Museum of American Art. 1967 Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1967.

Wustum Museum of Fine Arts. Artists and the American Yard. Racine, WI: Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, 1991.

———. Gladys Nilsson: Survey of Works on Paper, 1967–1979. Racine, WI: Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, 1980.

———. Just Plane Screwy: Metaphysical and Metaphorical Tools by Artists. Racine, WI: Wustum Museum of Fine Arts, 1992.

 

PERIODICALS

Addington, Fran. “Alternative Realities Burst with Fresh Life: You’ll Love It or Hate It.” Minneapolis Tribune, May 3, 1981. 

Adrian, Dennis. “Aspects of Form Among Some Chicago Imagists.” Art Scene 2, no. 7 (1969): 10–15.

———. “Fantastic Images: A Postscript in Drawings.” Chicago Daily News, August 31, 1974. 

———. “Review of Exhibitions: Gladys Nilsson at Phyllis Kind.” Art in America 62, no. 4 (1975): 111.

———. “The Import of Imagism.” Dialogue Magazine 11, no. 3 (1988): 27–29.

Allen, Jane and Derek Guthrie. “Chicago Regionalism?” Studio International 186, no. 960 (1973): 182–186. 

———. “Illinois Artists Survey.” New Art Examiner 3, no. 5 (1976): 7.

———. “Improving the Image of the Chicago Imagists.” Chicago Tribune, May 14, 1972.

Alloway, Lawrence. “Art as Likeness: With a Note on Post Pop Art.” Arts Magazine 41, no. 7 (1967): 34–39.

———. “Public Sculpture for the Post–Heroic Age.” Art in America 67, no. 6 (1979): 9–11.

Anderson, Don. “Chicago Exercise in Ugliness.” Chicago’s American, March 5, 1967.

Artner, Alan G. “Gladys Nilsson at Randolph Street.” Chicago Tribune, June 15, 1984.

———. “In Current View, The Last Gasp of Gritty Imagism.” Chicago Tribune, January 12, 1975. 

Baker, Kenneth. “Gladys Nilsson at Braunstein/Quay.” San Francisco Chronicle, July 20, 1991. 

Barry, Edward. “Art Show Attracts Crowds.” Chicago Tribune, March 31, 1967.

———. “Art’s Speaking in a Polyglot.” Chicago Tribune, March 29, 1968.

Basquin, Kit. “Glass Backwards.” New Art Examiner 7, no. 2 (1979): 3.

Bello, Michelle. “Apparently Art Is Alive and Kicking in Sacramento.” The Sacramento Bee, November 16, 1981.

Berkowitz, Marc. “The São Paulo Biennial.” Art News 73, no. 1 (1974): 42–44.

Bowman, Russell. “Arts Reviews: Gladys Nilsson.” Arts Magazine 53, no. 3 (1979): 11. 

Brown, Gordon. “Month in Review: Fantastic Figuration.” Arts Magazine 42, no. 4 (1968): 53–68.

Bruner, Louise. “Chicago Imagist Show Tough, Fun.” Toledo Blade, October 27, 1987. 

Burkhart, Dorothy. “Gladys Nilsson at Braunstein/Quay.” San Jose Mercury News, July 26, 1991.

Chadwick, Whitney. “Narrative Imagism and the Figurative Tradition in Northern California Painting.” Art Journal 45, no. 4 (1985): 309–314.

Christiansen, Richard. “Parallel Visions.” Chicago Tribune, December 20, 1992.

Clark, Cathy. “In the Art World.” La Grange Park Sun, December 20, 1992.

Coburn, Marcia Froelke. “Interview: Gladys Nilsson.” Chicago Sun Times, April 20, 1986.

Cohen, Ronny. “Gladys Nilsson at Phyllis Kind Gallery.” Artforum 25, no. 8 (1987): 192.

Cohrs, Timothy. “Arts Reviews: Gladys Nilsson.” Arts Magazine 61, no. 7 (1987): 111.

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Dalkey, Victoria. “Are We Having Funk Yet?” The Sacramento Bee, August 27, 1989.

———. “Sacramento’s Ties to Chicago.” The Sacramento Bee, November 7, 1976.

Defner, Phyllis. “New York Letter.” Art International 19, no. 1 (1975): 44–48.

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Frankenstein, Alfred. “Meditative Tranquility.” San Francisco Chronicle, March 29, 1973.

Friedlander, Alberta. “Nilsson at Dell.” Skyline, December 14, 1966.

Frueh, Joanna. “Chicago’s Emotional Realists.” Artforum 17, no. 1 (1978): 41–47.

Garcia, Cynthia. “Cultural Exchange: Selections From the MCA Chicago Are on Display at MASP.” Newcity Brasil. November 26, 2019.

Gedo, Mary Matthews. “Interconnections: A Study of Chicago Style Relationships in Painting.” Arts Magazine 58, no. 1 (1983): 98.

Glackin, William. “At the Candy Store: Frogs, Hippos, and a Touch of Texas.” The Sacramento Bee, October 17, 1982. 

Gold, Barbara. "The Hairy Who: Up to Smut." The Sun, Baltimore, April 27, 1969.

Green, Art. “Who’s Hairy?” Art in America 106, no. 8 (2018): 47.

Griffin, Jonathan. “From Hairy Who to Solo Success.” New York Times, February 2, 2020.

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———. “Chicago.” Artforum 4, no. 10 (1966): 56–57.

———. “Chicago.” Artforum 5, no. 9 (1967): 64–66.

———. “Chicago.” Artforum 6, no. 5 (1968): 62–63.

———. “Chicago.” Artforum 7, no. 2 (1968): 69.

Hawkins, Margaret. “A Surrealist Family Reunion at the Phyllis Kind Gallery.” Chicago Sun Times, April 2, 1993. 

Haydon, Harold. “Blowing Horn, Beating Drums.” Chicago Sun Times, January 27, 1974.

———. “What Really Are True ‘Chicago Type’ Works?” Chicago Sun Times, May 14, 1972. 

Herbert, Martin. “Previewed: Famous Artists from Chicago, 1965–1975.” ArtReview 69, no. 8 (2017): 50.

Hinrichsen, Jens. “Hairy Who?” Monopol (December 2017): 76–85.

Jensen, Dean. “Chicago Art Welcome in Its Own Home.” Milwaukee Sentinel, July 13, 1984.

———. “Painter of Humor in Human Behavior.” Milwaukee Sentinel, February 27, 1980. 

Johnson, Ken. “Recognizing a Vibrant Underground.” New York Times, September 25, 2014. 

Kozloff, Max. “Inwardness: Chicago Art Scene Since 1945.” Artforum 11, no. 2 (1972): 51–55.

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Linville, Kasha. “Chicago Artists and Their Worldwide Splash: Twelve Chosen for São Paulo Biennial.” Christian Science Monitor, June 15, 1973. 

Lubell, Ellen. “Arts Review: Gladys Nilsson.” Arts Magazine 50, no. 6 (1976): 22.

Lynch, Kevin. “Raw, Direct Imagist Art Worth Visit.” The Capital Times, May 14, 1992. 

Lyon, Christopher. “Coming in from the Cold.” Chicago Magazine 33, no. 5 (1984): 156–169, 196, 198.

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Plagens, Peter. “Issues and Commentary: The Academy of the Bad.” Art in America 69, no. 9 (1981): 11–17.

– – –. Plagens, Peter. “‘3-D Doings: The Imagist Object in Chicago Art, 1964–1980’ Review: A Celebration of the Weird.” Wall Street Journal, September 18, 2018.

Raynor, Vivian. “14 Artists Show at Castle Gallery.” The New York Times, December 26, 1982.

Rex, Chris. “Candy Store Tribute.” Art Week, December 19, 1981.

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Schjeldahl, Peter. “Letter from Chicago.” Art in America 71, no. 3 (1983): 52–58. 

Schlesinger, Ellen. “Adeliza and the Candy Store Bunch.” Connoisseur 217, no. 910 (1987): 100.

Schulze, Franz. “3 Artists Defy Trend.” Chicago Sun Times, October 15, 1978.

———. “An Exuberant Era Takes Off in Chicago.” Chicago Daily News, March 11, 1967.

———. “Chicago.” Art International 11, no. 6 (1967): 42–44.

———. “Chicago Popcycle.” Art in America 54, no. 6 (1966): 102–104.

———. “Chicago Show: A Circus, Clown and All” Chicago Daily News, February 26–27, 1977.

———. “How Good-Looking Can a Dashboard Be?” Art News 73, no. 1 (1974): 68–69.

———. “Nilsson Watercolors.” Chicago Daily News, December 10, 1966.

———. “On the Chicago Art Scene . . . Suddenly It’s Spring.” Chicago Daily News, September 17, 1966.

———. “Our Pop Has Muscle.” Chicago Daily News, March 5, 1966.

———. “Review of Exhibitions: Gladys Nilsson at Phyllis Kind.” Art in America 61, no. 3 (1973): 107.

———. “The Drawings Look Drawn.” Chicago Daily News, April 6, 1968.

———. “The Expressionist Strain.” Art Journal 45, no. 4 (1985): 307.

———. “The Prodigal Funk Is Home.” Chicago Daily News, January 11– 12, 1975.

Searle, Adrian. “How Chicago! Review: Peanut-Brained Police Patrol a Curdled View of America.” Guardian, March 18, 2019.

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Sherwin, Skye. “Gladys Nilsson’s A Cold Mouth: A Boschian Psychosexual Comedy.” Guardian, March 22, 2019.

Simonini, Ross and Gladys Nilsson. “Things Just Keep Blossoming.” Mousse, no. 64 (2018): 266–277

Smith, Roberta. “Gladys Nilsson.” New York Times, December 11, 2014. 

– – –. “The Best Art Books of 2018.” New York Times, December 13, 2018.

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