Miss E. Knows

Jim NuttWW-1967-037939

1967·Acrylic on Plexiglas with aluminum and rubber; in artist's painted frame·192.1 × 131.1 cm (75 5/8 × 51 5/8 in.)

In early paintings such as this one, Jim Nutt referenced popular culture, particularly painted store windows and pinball machines, through his choice of medium and support: acrylic paint on Plexiglas. In addition, many elements relate to the comic-strip style of hard, crisp forms standing out boldly against simple backgrounds. In Miss E. Knows, Nutt also used a sequential format, incorporating small framed images in the upper-left corner of the painting. The work’s central subject is a grotesquely imagined, highly sexualized female figure—the artist’s satire of ideal beauty. Nutt is a principal member of the Hairy Who, an irreverent group of artists who began exhibiting together in Chicago during the late 1960s. Their Surrealist-inspired work aimed at subverting artistic conventions and standards of taste, and they became known as part of the Chicago Imagist movement.

Catalogue

Year: 1967
Medium: Acrylic on Plexiglas with aluminum and rubber; in artist's painted frame
Dimensions: 192.1 × 131.1 cm (75 5/8 × 51 5/8 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Jim Nutt

Artist

Jim Nutt

Painting

James T. Nutt is an American artist who was a founding member of the Chicago surrealist art movement known as the Chicago Imagists, or the Hairy Who. Though his work is inspired by the same pop culture that inspired Pop Art, journalist Web Behrens says Nutt's "paintings, particularly his later works, are more accomplished than those of the more celebrated Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein." According to Museum of Contemporary Art curator Lynne Warren, Nutt is "the premier artist of his generation". Nutt attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, in Chicago, Illinois. He is married to fellow-artist and Hairy Who member Gladys Nilsson.

Pittsfield, MA, USA

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