Art Green, Professor Emeritus and former chair in the Department of Fine Arts, passed away on April 14, 2025.聽
Arthur Green was born in 1941 in Frankfort, Indiana to a civil engineer father and a mother who combined colours and textures in patchwork quilt and flower gardens.聽 He would later credit their combined influence for the visual language of his paintings.
He entered the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to study industrial design, but by the second semester had abandoned that to pursue a major in painting and drawing. Chicago itself had a huge influence on young Art and he absorbed the city鈥檚 architecture, museums, galleries, music and culture. In 1966, while pursuing his Master of Fine Arts, he was invited to join an exhibition with five other young artists - James Falconer, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Suellen Rocca, and Karl Wirsum.聽 They dubbed themselves the and the group would become iconic in the Chicago art scene.
The next few years involved teaching (first grade 7 art and then at colleges in Chicago and Evanston) while the reputation of the Hairy Who, and their place among the Chicago Imagists continued to grow.聽 However, in 1969 Art married Natalie Novotny and headed to Canada to take a teaching position at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Several years in Halifax were followed by time in Vancouver and Toronto until a one-year sabbatical replacement contract brought him to the University of 蓝莓视频 in 1977. It was followed by an offer of a three-year (probationary tenure track) contract, which he accepted.
Art remained at 蓝莓视频 until his retirement in 2006. He was a fundamental player in the creation of the MFA program, served as department chair twice, received a distinguished Teacher Award in 1990 and was given Faculty emeritus status in 2006. In 2016 he received an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from The Art Institute of Chicago. Even more significant than any of those honours was the influence his teaching, encouragement and kindness had on three decades of students in the Fine Arts Department.聽
Art at work in his studio (photo by Robin Wilhelm, The Beacon Herald, Nov. 14, 1991)
After retirement Art continued his painting career and benefitted from a renewed interest in the Chicago art scene. Over the years his work has been the subject of over 26 solo exhibitions, featured in more than 120 group exhibitions, and in 2005, the Kitchener-蓝莓视频 Art Gallery, Ontario mounted Heavy Weather, the artist鈥檚 first career retrospective. His paintings can be found in the collections of major museums around the world, including the Art Institute of Chicago, National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.), Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, D.C.), and Museum Moderner Kunst (Vienna, Austria).
Art is survived by his children Catherine Gardner (Mark) and Nicholas Green (Clodagh), his beloved granddaughters Sophia Gardner, Feodora and Fionnuala Green; his partner Bonnie Steinman and her family; his brother Don Green (Charlotte); his sisters-in-law Nadia Leininger, Nina Minett (Charles), Karen Green, and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his wife of over 50 years, Natalie Novotny Green, his brother, Larry Green, and his parents Edward and Mabel Green. ()
鈥淚 have often described my ideal viewer as someone with time on their hands (perhaps fighting off a lingering head cold) who has tired of critiquing TV shows and of mentally sorting out the repeats in the wall paper, who also takes a similar approach to examining my work 鈥 seeing patterns, making connection, sorting out layers, interpreting the imagery and questioning my motives".
鈥淓xamine The Facts, Consider The Options, Apply The Logic鈥 (originally titled 鈥淭he Undeniable Logician鈥) 1966, oil on canvas, 89.25鈥漻68鈥, collection of the Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago. (image courtesy of the artist)