Gladys M. Nilsson

Place: Chicago

Born: 1940

Biography:

Gladys Nilsson is an American artist, and one of the original Hairy Who Chicago Imagists, a group of representational artists active during the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1940, to Swedish immigrant parents. Nilsson grew up on the north side of Chicago and attended Lake View High School, while also attending extracurricular drawing classes. She later attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she met her future husband, fellow student Jim Nutt. Nilsson and Nutt married in July 1961, and their son, Claude, was born in 1962. Nilsson is primarily a watercolorist who paints colorfully patterned scenes dominated by odd, whimsical figures. She is known for her densely constructed watercolors and collages. Nilsson has been a lifelong devotee of the Art Institute of Chicago. She attended children’s art classes at the museum, studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for college, and has taught at the school for over 30 years. Nilsson is also a member of the American Watercolor Society and the National Academy of Design.