Uncommon Accumulation: The Mark and Judy Bednar Collection of Chicago Imagism
March 14, 2020 – October 11, 2020
Overview
To celebrate Mark and Judy Bednar’s transformative gift of Chicago Imagist art from their collection to the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, MMoCA will bring together the gift in the Museum’s main galleries. Uncommon Accumulation will showcase works that have already been gifted to the Museum alongside the promised gifts that have been collected by the Bednars over the past 45 years. This gift of nearly 100 works of art complements the Museum’s existing collection of Chicago Imagism through its inclusion of artworks produced very early in the careers of several of the artists. Formative works by Roger Brown, Robert Lostutter, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Barbara Rossi, Karl Wirsum, and Ray Yoshida from the 1960s and 70s—a period when some of the Imagists were still in graduate school at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)—are part of this extraordinary gift. These new additions uphold MMoCA as having one of the largest, and now one of the most comprehensive, collections of Chicago Imagism.
The Chicago Imagists were a group of figurative artists who emerged in Chicago in the mid-1960s. Using vibrant color and bold lines, they depicted the human body as grossly distorted and highly stylized. As students of SAIC, the Imagists passed by iconic paintings and the extraordinary collection of Surrealism on display at the Art Institute on their way to classes. Although influenced by the encyclopedic collection of the Museum, the Imagists were equally inspired by ethnographic collections at the Field Museum, self-taught artists, comic books, storefront window displays, and advertisements in magazines.
The Bednars’ gift also reveals the profound friendships the couple has developed with the artists over the years. From dinners at their home to trips to the Metropolitan Opera, the support and admiration bestowed upon the artists is heartwarming and reciprocated. These sincere friendships are revealed in some of the inscriptions on the works of art—below one drawing reads “Happy Birthday Judy / From Your Friend / Robert Lostutter.”
To support continued research and the accessibility of these works, the Bednars have also funded the Museum’s collection database and website redesign. While strengthening the Museum’s existing collection of Chicago Imagism, these generous gifts also support the Museum’s core mission of increasing education and inspiration through the arts.
Gallery
Videos
Virtual Visit with Fred Stonehouse
Virtual Tour
Educational Resources
Exhibition Catalogue
This catalog celebrates the nearly 100 Chicago Imagist works of art which were gifted or promised to MMoCA by Mark and Judy Bednar of Chicago. This incredible gift complements the Museum’s existing collection of Chicago Imagism through its inclusion of artworks produced early on in the careers of Roger Brown, Robert Lostutter, Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Christina Ramberg, Barbara Rossi, Karl Wirsum, and Ray Yoshida. “Chicago Imagist” has become shorthand for the typified Chicago style—figurative, boldly colored, precisely rendered works that embrace humor and the outrageous. As former students of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Imagists passed by iconic paintings and the extraordinary collection of Surrealism on display at the Art Institute on their way to classes. While they were absorbing the images exhibited on the walls of the museum, they were also encouraged by their professors to visit the Field Museum of Natural History, the Oriental Institute, storefront window displays, and flea markets for inspiration and visual fodder.
Artwork
City Nights: All You-Wanted-To-Know-or-Don’t-Want-to-Know-And-Were-Afraid-To-Ask-A-Closet-Painting (subtitle supplied by Barbara Bowman)
1978
Roger Brown
First Drawing for Spangled Coquette
1995
Robert Lostutter
Four preparatory drawings and six palettes (Studies for Rainforest)
c. 1991
Robert Lostutter
Untitled (Study for Rainforest)
1991
Robert Lostutter
Untitled (Study for Rainforest)
1991
Robert Lostutter
Toucan (preparatory drawing and tracing)
c. 1975
Robert Lostutter
Untitled (head of man and woman)
1996
Robert Lostutter
Preparatory drawing and two palettes (Study for Plate-Billed Mountain Toucan)
1986-1990
Robert Lostutter
Preparatory drawing and two palettes (Study for Plate-Billed Mountain Toucan)
1986-1990
Robert Lostutter
Preparatory drawing and two palettes (Study for Plate-Billed Mountain Toucan)
1986-1990
Robert Lostutter
Three preparatory drawings (Study for Parrot Watching the Sun Go Down)
1986
Robert Lostutter
Three preparatory drawings (Study for Parrot Watching the Sun Go Down)
1986
Robert Lostutter
Three preparatory drawings (Study for Parrot Watching the Sun Go Down)
1986
Robert Lostutter
Parrot Watching the Sun Go Down
1986
Robert Lostutter
Two Hummingbirds (Study for Scintillant Hummingbird and Gorgeted Woodstar)
1982
Robert Lostutter
Scintillant Hummingbird and Gorgeted Woodstar
1982
Robert Lostutter
Cinnamon Hummingbird and Allied Emerald
1984
Robert Lostutter
Hummingbirds – Gould’s Jewelfront and Blue Throated Hummingbird
1988
Robert Lostutter
The Man Who Remembers What Birds Once Looked Like
1973
Robert Lostutter
Morning for the Plate-Billed Mountain Toucan
1989
Robert Lostutter
Press
Press Release
Uncommon Accumulation Press Release
Press Coverage
The Imagists take MMoCA
– The Isthmus
Support
Uncommon Accumulation has been made possible by the Gabriele Haberland Permanent Collection Fund; a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts; and MMoCA Volunteers.