Notable Alumni of School of the Art Institute of Chicago [Sorted List]

1. Robert Storr

1949-. (aged 77)

painter art theorist curator art critic exhibition curator

Robert Storr is an American curator, critic, painter, and writer.

2. Victor Skrebneski

1929-2020 (aged 91)

photographer fashion photographer

Victor Paul Skrebneski was an American photographer born in Chicago to parents of Polish and Russian heritage. He was educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1943 and attended the Illinois Institute of Technology from 1947 to 1949. He set up his own studio in Chicago in 1952. The Art Institute of Chicago had an exhibit...

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3. Felipe Smith

1978-. (aged 48)

visual artist comics artist illustrator writer

Felipe Smith is an American comic book writer and artist of Jamaican and Argentine descent. He is the creator, co-designer, and writer of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider, and the author of Peepo Choo, a manga series debuting in 2009 in Kodansha's Morning 2 monthly magazine. It is the first manga created and serialized in Japan by a Western creator before...

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4. Neysa McMein

1888-1949 (aged 61)

illustrator painter

Neysa Moran McMein was an American illustrator and portrait painter who studied at The School of The Art Institute of Chicago and Art Students League of New York. She began her career as an illustrator and during World War I, she traveled across France entertaining military troops with Anita P. Wilcox and Jane Bulley and made posters to support the...

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5. David Stone Martin

1913-1992 (aged 79)

illustrator painter

David Stone Martin, born David Livingstone Martin was an American artist best known for his illustrations on jazz record albums.

6. Jane Heap

1883-1964 (aged 81)

journalist editor

Jane Heap was an American publisher and a significant figure in the development and promotion of literary modernism. Together with Margaret Anderson, her friend and business partner (who for some years was also her lover), she edited the celebrated literary magazine The Little Review, which published an extraordinary collection of modern American, English and Irish writers between 1914 and 1929....

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7. Ben Russell

1976-. (aged 50)

filmmaker film director

Ben Russell is an American artist and experimental filmmaker. Russell developed his reputation over the numerous shorts he made throughout the 2000s, many as part of his "Trypps" series, and as the curator of the Magic Lantern Cinema in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2009, he made his acclaimed feature debut, Let Each One Go Where He May, shot in Suriname...

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8. Warren MacKenzie

1924-2018 (aged 94)

ceramicist artist

Warren MacKenzie was an American craft potter and is often referred to as the "master" or "father" of the American ceramic art in the mingei tradition. He was also a strong believer in utilitarian pottery and, despite being able to fetch higher prices in galleries, priced his pieces accessibly in his own self-service showroom so people would feel they could...

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9. Anne Rosellini

film producer screenwriter

Anne Rosellini is an American film producer and screenwriter. She is best known for writing and producing the 2010 film Winter's Bone with her frequent collaborator Debra Granik. Her work has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and for Best Adapted Screenplay. Before becoming a film producer, she was a programmer for various film...

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10. Edward McKnight Kauffer

1890-1954 (aged 64)

visual artist graphic designer designer painter

Edward McKnight Kauffer was an American artist and graphic designer who lived for much of his life in the United Kingdom. He worked mainly in poster art, but was also active as a painter, book illustrator and theatre designer.

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11. George Grey Barnard

1863-1938 (aged 75)

sculptor

George Grey Barnard, often written George Gray Barnard, was an American sculptor who trained in Paris. He is especially noted for his heroic sized Struggle of the Two Natures in Man at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, his twin sculpture groups at the Pennsylvania State Capitol, and his Lincoln statue in Cincinnati, Ohio. His major works are largely symbolical in...

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12. Jennifer Reeder

1971-. (aged 55)

video artist screenwriter film director

Jennifer Reeder is an American artist, filmmaker, and screenwriter. Her short film A Million Miles Away (2014) was nominated for a Tiger Award for Short Films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and screened at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Short Narrative Films category. In 2003, she had a solo screening at Moderna Museet in Stockholm, Sweden....

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13. Robin Barcus Slonina

1971-. (aged 55)

sculptor

Robin Slonina is a multi-disciplinary, contemporary artist.

14. Rolf Armstrong

1889-1960 (aged 71)

illustrator painter

Rolf Armstrong was an American commercial artist specializing in glamorous depictions of female subjects. He is best known for his magazine covers and calendar art. In 1960 the New York Times dubbed him the “creator of the calendar girl.” His commercial career extended from 1912 to 1960, the great majority of his original work being done in pastel.

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15. Marc-Aurèle Fortin

1888-1970 (aged 82)

painter

Marc-Aurèle Fortin RCA was a Québécois painter, known best for paintings that convey the charm of small-town Quebec.

16. Santiago Martínez Delgado

1906-1954 (aged 48)

painter sculptor

Santiago Martínez Delgado was a Colombian painter, sculptor, art historian and writer. He established a reputation as a prominent muralist during the 1940s and is also known for his watercolors, oil paintings, illustrations and woodcarvings.

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17. Minerva Teichert

1888-1976 (aged 88)

painter

Minerva Bernetta Kohlhepp Teichert was a 20th-century American artist who painted Western and Mormon subjects, including murals of scenes from the Book of Mormon. She received her art education from the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League of New York, and was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Religious-themed artwork...

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18. E. Irving Couse

1866-1936 (aged 70)

painter

Eanger Irving Couse was an American artist and a founding member and first president of the Taos Society of Artists. Born and reared in Saginaw, Michigan, he went to New York City and Paris to study art. While spending summers in Taos, New Mexico, he began to make the paintings of Native Americans, New Mexico, and the American Southwest for...

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19. Brad Troemel

1987-. (aged 39)

artist

Brad Troemel is an American artist and writer based in New York City. Troemel is most well known for co-creating the Tumblr blog The Jogging in 2009 which received attention for its work in post internet art.

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20. Franklin Booth

1874-1948 (aged 74)

illustrator writer

Franklin Booth was an American artist known for his detailed pen-and-ink illustrations. He had a unique illustration style based upon his early recreation of wood engraving illustrations with pen and ink. His skill as a draftsman and style made him a popular magazine illustrator in the early 20th century. He was one of the first modern ex libris designers in...

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21. Mat Devine

1974-. (aged 52)

singer-songwriter guitarist

Mat Devine is an American singer, songwriter and musician. He created and fronted the alternative rock band Kill Hannah. His debut solo album, Gold Blooded, was released in August 2014. He is currently the Head of Music Partnerships at Cameo.

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22. Bill Rebane

1937-. (aged 89)

filmmaker film director film producer politician

Bill Rebane is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for low budget movies such as Monster a Go-Go and The Giant Spider Invasion. Rebane also ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 1979 and 2002 as the American Reform Party candidate.

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23. Edgar Alwin Payne

1883-1947 (aged 64)

painter

Edgar Alwin Payne was an American painter. He was known as a Western landscape painter and muralist.

24. Ida Applebroog

1929-2023 (aged 94)

painter conceptual artist sculptor artist draftsperson

Ida Applebroog was an American multi-media artist who was best-known for her paintings and sculptures that explore the themes of gender, sexual identity, violence, and politics. Applebroog was the recipient of multiple honors including the MacArthur Fellowship "Genius Grant", the College Art Association Distinguished Art Award for Lifetime Achievement, and an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the New School...

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25. Ben Stahl

1910-1987 (aged 77)

writer

Benjamin Albert Stahl was an American artist, illustrator and author. He showed precocious talent, winning a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago at age twelve. His artwork appeared in the International Watercolor Show at the Art Institute when he was sixteen. He later taught at the Art Institute, as well as at the American Academy of Art, the Art...

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26. Margaret Brundage

1900-1976 (aged 76)

painter

Margaret Brundage, was an American illustrator and painter who is remembered chiefly for having illustrated the pulp magazine Weird Tales. Working in pastels on illustration board, she created most of the covers for Weird Tales between 1933 and 1938.

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27. Frederick Carl Frieseke

1874-1939 (aged 65)

painter

Frederick Carl Frieseke was an American Impressionist painter who spent most of his life as an expatriate in France. An influential member of the Giverny art colony, his paintings often concentrated on various effects of dappled sunlight.

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28. Richard Hunt

1935-2023 (aged 88)

sculptor lithographer

Richard Howard Hunt was an American artist and sculptor. In the second half of the 20th century, he became "the foremost African-American abstract sculptor and artist of public sculpture." A Chicago native, Hunt studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1950s. While there he received multiple prizes for his work. In 1971, he was the...

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29. Lala Lala

singer-songwriter

Lillie Amadea West, known professionally as Lala Lala, is an indie rock musician and songwriter based in Chicago.

30. Dean Cornwell

1892-1960 (aged 68)

painter illustrator cartoonist

Dean Cornwell was an American illustrator and muralist. His oil paintings were frequently featured in popular magazines and books as literary illustrations, advertisements, and posters promoting the war effort. Throughout the first half of the 20th century he was a dominant presence in American illustration. At the peak of his popularity he was nicknamed the "Dean of Illustrators".

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31. Red Grooms

1937-. (aged 89)

illustrator sculptor filmmaker installation artist director

Red Grooms is an American multimedia artist best known for his colorful pop-art constructions depicting frenetic scenes of modern urban life. Grooms was given the nickname "Red" by Dominic Falcone (of Provincetown's Sun Gallery) when he was starting out as a dishwasher at a restaurant in Provincetown and was studying with Hans Hofmann.

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32. Casey Spooner

1970-. (aged 56)

musician

Casey David Spooner is an American musician and artist. He resides in Paris, Los Angeles, and New York City.

33. Anchee Min

1957-. (aged 69)

musician novelist painter writer photographer

Anchee Min is a Chinese-American author who lives in San Francisco and Shanghai. Min has published two memoirs, Red Azalea and The Cooked Seed: A Memoir, and six historical novels. Her fiction emphasizes strong female characters, such as Jiang Qing, the wife of chairman Mao Zedong, and Empress Dowager Cixi, the last ruling empress of China.

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34. Mike Grell

1947-. (aged 79)

comics artist

Mike Grell is an American comic book writer and artist, known for his work on books such as Green Lantern/Green Arrow, The Warlord, and Jon Sable Freelance.

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35. Byeong Sam Jeon

1977-. (aged 49)

artist

Byeong Sam Jeon is an internationally recognized South Korean artist who lives in Seoul and New York. One of his large-scale art installations is CD PROJECT that turned an abandoned old tobacco factory into a shiny dream factory through decorating the 180 meter-long and 32 meter-high outer wall of the factory building with the total 489,440 flattering compact discs collected...

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36. Richmond Barthé

1901-1989 (aged 88)

sculptor painter artist

James Richmond Barthé, also known as Richmond Barthé was an African-American sculptor associated with the Harlem Renaissance. Barthé is best known for his portrayal of black subjects. The focus of his artistic work was portraying the diversity and spirituality of man. Barthé once said: "All my life I have been interested in trying to capture the spiritual quality I see...

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37. Gregory La Cava

1892-1952 (aged 60)

film director director comics artist animator screenwriter

Gregory La Cava was an American film director of Italian descent best known for his films of the 1930s, including My Man Godfrey and Stage Door, which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best Director.

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38. Sterling Ruby

1972-. (aged 54)

artist sculptor painter collagist installation artist

Sterling Ruby is an American artist who works in a large variety of media including ceramics, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture, video, and textiles. Often, his work is presented in large and densely packed installations. The artist has cited a diverse range of sources and influences including aberrant psychologies (particularly schizophrenia and paranoia), urban gangs and graffiti, hip-hop culture, craft, punk,...

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39. Burne Hogarth

1911-1996 (aged 85)

draftsperson comics artist comics writer

Burne Hogarth was an American artist and educator, best known for his work on the Tarzan newspaper comic strip and his series of anatomy books for artists.

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40. Jon Rafman

1981-. (aged 45)

filmmaker essayist artist photographer

Jon Rafman is a Canadian artist, filmmaker, and essayist. His work centers around the emotional, social and existential impact of technology on contemporary life. His artwork has gained international attention and was exhibited in 2015 at Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal (Montreal) and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. He is widely known for exhibiting found images from Google Street View in his...

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41. Archibald Motley

1891-1981 (aged 90)

painter

Archibald John Motley, Jr., was an American visual artist. Motley is most famous for his colorful chronicling of the African-American experience in Chicago during the 1920s through 1940s, and is considered one of the major contributors to the Harlem Renaissance or New Negro Movement, a time in which African-American art reached new heights not just in New York but across...

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42. Trevor Paglen

1974-. (aged 52)

geographer installation artist photographer writer

Trevor Paglen is an American artist, geographer, and author whose work covers mass surveillance and data collection.

43. Elizabeth Murray

1940-2007 (aged 67)

painter professor artist sculptor illustrator

Elizabeth Murray was an American painter, printmaker and draughtsman. Her works are in many major public collections, including those of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the...

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44. Amanda Crowe

1928-2004 (aged 76)

wood carver sculptor

Amanda Crowe was an Eastern Band Cherokee woodcarver and educator from Cherokee, North Carolina in the United States. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her work has been widely exhibited and is held by a number of museums. Crowe dedicated much of her career to teaching and training the next generation of Eastern Cherokee artists.

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45. James Earle Fraser

1876-1953 (aged 77)

medalist sculptor

James Earle Fraser was an American sculptor during the first half of the 20th century. His work is integral to many of Washington, D.C.'s most iconic structures.

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46. Gahan Wilson

1930-2019 (aged 89)

writer cartoonist comics artist illustrator

Gahan Allen Wilson was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations.

47. Thomas C. Lea III

1907-2001 (aged 94)

historian painter novelist journalist

Thomas Calloway Lea III was an American muralist, illustrator, artist, war correspondent, novelist, and historian. The bulk of his art and literary works were about Texas, north-central Mexico, and his World War II experience in the South Pacific and Asia. Two of his most popular novels, The Brave Bulls and The Wonderful Country, are widely considered to be classics of...

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48. A. Y. Jackson

1882-1974 (aged 92)

painter

Alexander Young Jackson CC CMG RCA LL. D. was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing together the artists of Montreal and Toronto. In addition to his work with the Group of Seven, his long career included serving...

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49. Mark Tobey

1890-1976 (aged 86)

illustrator painter

Mark George Tobey was an American painter. His densely structured compositions, inspired by Asian calligraphy, resemble Abstract expressionism, although the motives for his compositions differ philosophically from most Abstract Expressionist painters. His work was widely recognized throughout the United States and Europe. Along with Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves, and William Cumming, Tobey was a founder of the Northwest...

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50. Tania Bruguera

1968-. (aged 58)

performance artist painter theatrical director artist installation artist

Tania Bruguera is a Cuban artist and activist who focuses on installation and performance art. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts where she works as head of media and performance at Harvard University. Bruguera has participated in numerous international exhibitions. her work is in the permanent collections of many institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art and Bronx Museum of the...

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51. Emil Ferris

1962-. (aged 64)

cartoonist designer comics artist writer illustrator

Emil Ferris is an American writer, cartoonist, and designer. Ferris debuted in publishing with her 2017 graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, which was praised as a "masterpiece" and one of the best comics by a new author.

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52. Hope Larson

1982-. (aged 44)

comics artist illustrator cartoonist

Hope Raue Larson is an American illustrator and cartoonist. Her main field is comic books.

53. Richard Estes

1932-. (aged 94)

painter manufacturer printmaker photographer

Richard Estes is an American artist, best known for his photorealist paintings. The paintings generally consist of reflective, clean, and inanimate city and geometric landscapes. He is regarded as one of the founders of the international photo-realist movement of the late 1960s, with such painters as John Baeder, Chuck Close, Robert Cottingham, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, and Duane Hanson. Author...

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54. Bill Mauldin

1921-2003 (aged 82)

editorial cartoonist cartoonist caricaturist journalist actor

William Henry Mauldin was an American editorial cartoonist who won two Pulitzer Prizes for his work. He was most famous for his World War II cartoons depicting American soldiers, as represented by the archetypal characters Willie and Joe, two weary and bedraggled infantry troopers who stoically endure the difficulties and dangers of duty in the field.

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55. MC Chris

1975-. (aged 51)

screenwriter voice actor rapper musician

Christopher Brendan Ward IV, better known by the stage name MC Chris, is an American rapper, voice actor, comedian, and writer. He is recognized for his high-pitched voice and for blending his "geek” background with a “gangsta rap” persona, contributing to the popularization of the nerdcore genre. He has released ten albums, five EPs, one re-release, and a tenth-anniversary edition...

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56. LeRoy Neiman

1921-2012 (aged 91)

painter actor

LeRoy Neiman was an American artist known for his brilliantly colored, expressionist paintings and screenprints of athletes, musicians, and sporting events.

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57. Kristin Hayter

1986-. (aged 40)

singer

Kristin Hayter is an American singer and pianist. She started releasing music in 2017 and performed under the stage name Lingua Ignota (Latin for "unknown language"). In 2023, citing the unhealthiness of reliving her trauma through her performances, Hayter retired the Lingua Ignota project and adopted a new persona under the moniker Reverend Kristin Michael Hayter.

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58. Mykki Blanco

1986-. (aged 40)

rapper

Mykki Blanco is an American rapper, performance artist, poet and activist. She has collaborated musically with artists including Kanye West, Teyana Taylor, and Blood Orange.

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59. Audrey Niffenegger

1963-. (aged 63)

novelist science fiction writer university teacher visual artist poet

Audrey Niffenegger is an American writer, artist, and academic. Her debut novel, The Time Traveler's Wife, published in 2003, was a bestseller.

60. Cynthia Rowley

1958-. (aged 68)

fashion designer

Cynthia Rowley is an American fashion designer, known for her books, television appearances and "flirty" and "carefree" women's clothing designs.

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61. BenDeLaCreme

1981-. (aged 45)

actor drag queen

BenDeLaCreme is the stage persona of Benjamin Brock Hamlet Putnam, an American drag queen, burlesque performer, and actor based in Seattle, Washington. He is known for being a contestant on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. He is also known for his solo shows Ready To Be Committed, Terminally...

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62. Matteo Lane

1986-. (aged 40)

comedian podcaster

Matthew "Matteo" Lane is an American comedian, actor, singer, and illustrator. He has made appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and HBO's Crashing. Lane was recognized by The Advocate as one of the "LGBT Icons, Innovators, and Disruptors" for his stand-up comedy.

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63. Elisha Cook Jr

1903-1995 (aged 92)

stage actor television actor character actor actor film actor

Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. was an American character actor famed for his work in film noir. He played cheerful, brainy collegiates until he was cast against type as the bug-eyed baby-faced killer Wilmer Cook in the 1941 version of The Maltese Falcon. He went on to play deceptively mild-mannered villains. Cook's acting career spanned more than 60 years, with roles...

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64. Shelley Berman

1925-2017 (aged 92)

actor comedian television actor writer film actor

Sheldon Leonard Berman was an American comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and lecturer.

65. J. C. Leyendecker

1874-1951 (aged 77)

designer painter illustrator

Joseph Christian Leyendecker was one of the most prominent and financially successful freelance commercial artists in the United States. He was active between 1895 and 1951 producing drawings and paintings for hundreds of posters, books, advertisements, and magazine covers and stories. He is best known for his 80 covers for Collier's Weekly, 322 covers for The Saturday Evening Post, and...

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66. Grant Wood

1891-1942 (aged 51)

university teacher painter printmaker

Grant DeVolson Wood was an American artist and representative of Regionalism, best known for his paintings depicting the rural American Midwest. He is particularly well known for American Gothic (1930), which has become an iconic example of early 20th-century American art.

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67. Son Seok-koo

1983-. (aged 43)

television actor stage actor actor film actor

Son Suk-ku is a South Korean actor. He gained recognition for his roles in the television series Matrimonial Chaos (2018), Designated Survivor: 60 Days (2019), D.P. (2021–2023), My Liberation Notes (2022), A Killer Paradox (2024) and Heavenly Ever After (2025), as well as the films Nothing Serious (2021) and The Roundup (2022).

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68. Melinda Dillon

1939-2023 (aged 84)

film actor television actor stage actor

Melinda Ruth Dillon was an American actress. She was nominated for a 1963 Tony Award for her Broadway debut in the original production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Absence of Malice (1981).

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69. Edward Gorey

1925-2000 (aged 75)

writer puppeteer illustrator costume designer

Edward St. John Gorey was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. His characteristic pen-and-ink drawings often depict vaguely unsettling narrative scenes in Victorian and Edwardian settings.

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70. Shel Silverstein

1930-1999 (aged 69)

illustrator children's writer songwriter screenwriter film score composer

Sheldon Allan Silverstein was an American writer, cartoonist, songwriter, and musician. Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, Silverstein briefly attended university before being drafted into the United States Army. During his rise to prominence in the 1950s, his illustrations were published in various newspapers and magazines, including the adult-oriented Playboy. He also wrote a satirical, adult-oriented alphabet book, Uncle Shelby's...

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71. Halston

1932-1990 (aged 58)

costume designer fashion designer

Roy Halston Frowick, known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer. His minimalist, fluid designs helped define the look of 1970s American style. Halston was known for creating a relaxed urban lifestyle for women.

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72. Bruce Boxleitner

1950-. (aged 76)

novelist film producer science fiction writer film actor television actor

Bruce William Boxleitner is an American actor and science fiction and suspense writer. He is known for his leading roles in the television series: How the West Was Won, Bring 'Em Back Alive, Scarecrow and Mrs. King (with Kate Jackson) and Babylon 5 (as John Sheridan in seasons 2–5, 1994–98). He is also known for his dual role as the...

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73. Orson Welles

1915-1985 (aged 70)

magician writer voice actor film producer film actor

George Orson Welles was an American actor and filmmaker. Remembered for his innovative work in film, radio, and theatre, he is considered among the greatest and most influential filmmakers of all time.

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74. Lara Flynn Boyle

1970-. (aged 56)

television actor singer actor film actor

Lara Flynn Boyle is an American actress. She is known for playing Donna Hayward in the television series Twin Peaks (1990–1991). After appearing in Penelope Spheeris's comedy Wayne's World (1992), Boyle had a lead role in John Dahl's neo-noir film Red Rock West (1993), and in the psychological thriller The Temp (1993), followed by roles in Threesome (1994), Cafe Society...

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75. Kim Novak

1933-. (aged 93)

painter model television actor film producer film actor

Marilyn Pauline "Kim" Malloy is an American retired actress and painter. Her contributions to cinema have been honored with two Golden Globe Awards, an Honorary Golden Bear, a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

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76. Hugh Hefner

1926-2017 (aged 91)

writer nightclub owner voice actor political activist socialite

Hugh Marston Hefner was an American magazine publisher and businessman. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles. Hefner extended the Playboy brand into a world network of Playboy Clubs. He also resided in luxury mansions where Playboy Playmates shared his wild partying life, fueling media interest.

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77. Rashid Johnson

1977-. (aged 49)

painter installation artist sculptor film director photographer

Rashid Johnson is an American artist who produces conceptual post-black art. Johnson first received critical attention in 2001 at the age of 24, when his work was included in Freestyle (2001) curated by Thelma Golden at the Studio Museum in Harlem. He studied at Columbia College Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and his work has...

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78. Gertrude Abercrombie

1909-1977 (aged 68)

painter illustrator artist

Gertrude Abercrombie was an American painter based in Chicago. Called "the queen of the Bohemian artists", Abercrombie was involved in the Chicago jazz scene and was friends with musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan, whose music inspired her own creative work.

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79. Betty Bumpers

1925-2018 (aged 93)

teacher peace activist

Betty Lou Bumpers was an American politician, advocate for childhood immunizations, and world peace activist, who served as the First Lady of Arkansas from 1971 to 1975. Together, she and Rosalynn Carter ran a successful campaign to ensure that all American school children were immunized. Bumpers was the wife of Dale Bumpers, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1971...

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80. Jeff Koons

1955-. (aged 71)

businessperson sculptor jewelry designer painter collagist

Jeffrey Lynn Koons is an American artist recognized for his work dealing with popular culture and his sculptures depicting everyday objects, including balloon animals produced in stainless steel with mirror-finish surfaces. He lives and works in both New York City and his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. His works have sold for substantial sums, including at least two record auction prices...

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81. Joan Mitchell

1925-1992 (aged 67)

painter illustrator printmaker

Joan Mitchell was an American artist who worked primarily in painting and printmaking, and also used pastel and made other works on paper. She was an active participant in the New York School of artists in the 1950s. A native of Chicago, she is associated with the American abstract expressionist movement, even though she lived in France for much of...

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82. Wayne Boring

1905-1987 (aged 82)

illustrator penciller artist

Wayne Boring was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman from the late 1940s to 1950s. He occasionally used the pseudonym Jack Harmon.

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83. Thomas Hart Benton

1889-1975 (aged 86)

illustrator muralist designer cartoonist architectural draftsperson

Thomas Hart Benton was an American painter, muralist, and printmaker. Along with Grant Wood and John Steuart Curry, he was at the forefront of the Regionalist art movement. The fluid, sculpted figures in his paintings showed everyday people in scenes of life in the United States.

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84. Sarah Vowell

1969-. (aged 57)

writer voice actor journalist actor

Sarah Jane Vowell is an American historian, writer, journalist, radio personality, social commentator, and actress. She has written seven nonfiction books on American history and culture. Vowell was a contributing editor for the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International from 1996 to 2008, where she produced commentaries and documentaries. She was the voice of Violet Parr in...

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85. Wafaa Bilal

1966-. (aged 60)

conceptual artist video artist artist video installation artist

Dr. Wafaa Bilal is an Iraqi American artist, a former professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and currently an art professor at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. He is a Creative Capital Award winner in 2021 for his project In a Grain of Wheat: Cultivating Hybrid Futures in Ancient Seed DNA...

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86. Martine Syms

1988-. (aged 38)

artist filmmaker

Martine Syms is an American artist residing in Los Angeles, specializing in various mediums including publishing, video, installation, and performance.

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87. Martin Nodell

1915-2006 (aged 91)

cartoonist screenwriter comics artist draftsperson visual artist

Martin Nodell was an American cartoonist and commercial artist, best known as the creator of the Golden Age superhero Green Lantern. Some of his work appeared under the pen name Mart Dellon.

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88. Greer Lankton

1958-1996 (aged 38)

installation artist artist puppet designer photographer

Greer Lankton, was an American transgender artist known for creating lifelike sewn dolls that were often modeled on friends or celebrities and posed in elaborate theatrical settings. She was a key figure in the East Village art scene of the 1980s in New York.

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89. David Sedaris

1956-. (aged 70)

comedian essayist writer

David Raymond Sedaris is an American humorist, comedian, author, and radio contributor. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public Radio broadcast his essay "Santaland Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next book, Naked (1997), became his first of a series of New York Times Bestsellers, and his 2000...

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90. Vachel Lindsay

1879-1931 (aged 52)

painter poet writer

Nicholas Vachel Lindsay was an American poet. He is considered a founder of modern singing poetry, as he referred to it, in which verses are meant to be sung or chanted.

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91. Ed Harris

1950-. (aged 76)

film director director television actor voice actor theatrical director

Edward Allen Harris is an American actor and filmmaker. Harris received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Apollo 13 (1995), The Truman Show (1998), and The Hours (2002). He also directed and starred in Pollock (2000) and Appaloosa (2008), the former earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

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92. John Steuart Curry

1897-1946 (aged 49)

painter lithographer

John Steuart Curry was an American painter whose career spanned the years from 1924 until his death. He was noted for his paintings depicting rural life in his home state, Kansas. Along with Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood, he was hailed as one of the three great painters of American Regionalism of the first half of the twentieth century....

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93. Ivan Albright

1897-1983 (aged 86)

sculptor painter printmaker

Ivan Le Lorraine Albright was an American painter, sculptor and print-maker most renowned for his self-portraits, character studies, and still lifes. Due to his technique and dark subject matter, he is often categorized among the Magic Realists and is sometimes referred to as the "master of the macabre".

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94. Michael Shaowanasai

1964-. (aged 62)

film actor actor film director

Michael Shaowanasai is a Thai-American artist and actor who lives in Bangkok, Thailand. His works includes performance art, photography, video, film and installations. Openly gay, his works are often provocative, such as photographic portrait of himself as a Buddhist monk made up to look like a woman. Active as an artist since 1997, his works have featured in international exhibitions...

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95. Apichatpong Weerasethakul

1970-. (aged 56)

screenwriter director film director film producer installation artist

Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a Thai independent film director, screenwriter, film producer and Professor at Tama Art University in Tokyo. Working outside the strict confines of the Thai film studio system, Apichatpong has directed several features and dozens of short films. Friends and fans sometimes refer to him as "Joe" (a nickname that he, like many with similarly long Thai names,...

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96. Hong Sang-soo

1960-. (aged 66)

screenwriter film director cinematographer composer executive producer

Hong Sang-soo is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. He is one of the most prominent exponents of slow cinema, often dealing in love affairs and everyday dilemmas in contemporary South Korea. His work has been widely-acclaimed and received numerous international accolades.

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97. Wen Yiduo

1899-1946 (aged 47)

poet writer

Wen Yiduo was a Chinese poet and scholar known for his nationalistic poetry. Wen was assassinated by the Kuomintang in 1946.

98. Jeffrey Gibson

1972-. (aged 54)

installation artist painter sculptor

Jeffrey A. Gibson is an American Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee painter and sculptor. He has lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York; Hudson, New York; and Germantown, New York.

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99. Will McBride

1931-2015 (aged 84)

painter sculptor visual artist illustrator photographer

Will McBride was an American photographer in reportage, art photography and book illustration as well as a painter and sculptor.

100. Teresa Burga

1935-2021 (aged 86)

visual artist conceptual artist multimedia artist

María Teresa Burga Ruiz was a multimedia artist whose conceptual art works during the late 1960s and 1970s position her as a precursor of media art, technology-based art, and installation art in Peru.

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