• September 8, 2018–January 20, 2019

The Figure and the Chicago Imagists: Selections from the Elmhurst College Art Collection

Elmhurst Art Museum

150 South Cottage Hill Avenue, Elmhurst, Illinois 60126

Barbara Rossi, Shep Step II, 1973. Acrylic on Plexiglas, 29 x 23 inches. Elmhurst College Art Collection.


Over and over the Chicago Imagists cast the figure in numerous roles, distorting it and layering it with metaphor and personal meaning. Outrageous, irreverent, and humorous and inspired by popular culture, these works reflect highly original expressions of the human form.

This exhibition features the Elmhurst College Art Collection, focused on artists working in Chicago between about 1950 and the present. The exhibition is curated by Suellen Rocca, one of the original members of the prominent Imagist group known as the Hairy Who and Curator and Director of Exhibitions at Elmhurst College.