1938
Born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
1957
Attends University of Pennsylvania as an architecture student for one and a half semesters.
1960
Enrolls at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and graduates in 1965.
Meets Gladys Nilsson and they marry a year later.
1966
First Hairy Who exhibition at Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago.
1974
First major museum exhibition at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; travels to Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Receives grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Lives and works in the Chicago area.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011
Etchings, Hanes Gallery, Scales Fine Art Center, Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Coming Into Character, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Complete Prints, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago
2010
"Trim" and Other Works: 1967 – 2010, David Nolan Gallery, New York
2007
Recent Drawings, Early Etchings, Schmidt Contemporary, St. Louis, Missouri
2005
Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
2003
Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York
1999
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Nolan/Eckman Gallery, New York
1995
J. Maddux Parker, Sacramento
1994
Retrospective, Milwaukee Art Museum; Henry Art Gallery, Seattle; National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati
1992
Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
1991
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1988
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1985
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1984
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1983
James Mayor Gallery, London
1982
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1980
Rotterdamse Kunststichting, Rotterdam
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1979
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1977
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1976
Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York
1975
San Francisco Art Institute; Portland Center for the Visual Arts
1974
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1972
Candy Store Gallery, Folsom, California
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1970
Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1969
Candy Store Gallery, Folsom, California
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2013
Elie Nadelman, Jim Nutt, Tomma Abts, Vincent Fecteau, Galerie Buchholz, Cologne
2012
Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration, The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Image/abstraction/object, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago
Someone Else's Dream, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
Drawings, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago
The Annual: 2012, National Academy Museum and School, New York
2011
Still Life with Phrenology Head, Isabella Bortolozzi Galerie, Berlin
2010
WORKS ON PAPER: Barnaby Furnas, Jim Nutt and Eduardo Paolozzi, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
Emerging Images: The Creative Process in Prints, International Print Center, New York
Figures in Chicago Imagism, Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, Illinios
Face to Face, Denver Art Museum, Denver
2009
1969, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York
Intense, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago
American Academy Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York
2008
Perverted by Theater, Apex Art, New York
Chicago Imagism: 1965 – 1985, Russell Bowman Art Advisory, Chicago
2007
Hairy Who (and some others), The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin
This Place is Ours! Recent Acquisitions at the Academy, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
2006
Drawn into the World, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago
Artful Jesters, Brattleboro Museum and Art Center, Brattleboro, Vermont
Twice Drawn, Tang Museum, Skidmore College, New York
2005
Life and Limb, Feigen Contemporary, New York
Extraordinary Visions, David Nolan Gallery, New York
Jim Nutt v. Pablo Picasso, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
2004-05
Disparities and Deformities: Our Grotesque, Site Santa Fe, New Mexico
2004
Endless Love, D.C. Moore Gallery, New York
The Intimate Collaboration – Twenty-Five Years of Teaberry Press, Samek Art Gallery, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
Altered States, Leo Koenig, New York
2003
Funny Papers, Daniel Weinberg Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2002
Bildnis und Figur - Zeichnungen und Druckgraphiken, Galerie Fred Jahn, Munich
2002
Eye Infection, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
2001
Self Made Men, DC Moore Gallery, New York
Open Ends, Museum of Modern Art, New York
2000
End Papers Drawings 1890-2000, Neuberger Museum, Purchase, New York
Drawing the Figure, Works on Paper of the 1990's from the Manilow Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
ChicagoLoop, Imagist Art 1949-1979, Whitney Museum of American Art, Stamford, Connecticut
Face to Face, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam
1999
Nutt x Nilsson, Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan
1992
20th Century Works on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
From America's Studio: Twelve Contemporary Masters, The Art Institute of Chicago
Parallel Visions: Modern Artists and Outsider Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Kunsthalle Basel; Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid; Setagaya Art Museum, Tokyo
1991
Une Touche Swisse, Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
1990
Word as Image: American Art 1960-1900, Milwaukee Art Museum; Oklahoma City Art Museum, OK; Contemporary Art Museum, Houston
Diverging Styles: Contemporary American Drawing, Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville
1989
The Candy Store, Redding Museum and Art Center, Redding, California
Partners in Purchase, State of Illinois Art Gallery, Chicago; Lake View Museum of Arts and Sciences, Peoria, Illinois
Contemporary American Collage: 1960-1986, Herter Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
1988
68th Annual Artist Members Exhibition: Works on Paper and Sculpture, The Arts Club of Chicago
1988: The World of Art Today, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee
1987
20th Century drawings from the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington D. C.; Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; Achenbach Foundation, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco; Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Made in U.S.A.: An Americanization of Modern Art, the '50s & '60s, University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond
The Chicago Imagist Print: Ten Artists' Works, 1958-1987, The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, The University of Chicago
Drawings of the Chicago Imagists, Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago
Surfaces: Two Decades of Painting in Chicago, Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago
1986
66th Annual Artist Exhibition, The Arts Club of Chicago
1985
Ciquante Ans de Dessins Américains: 1930-1980, École nationale superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, and tour
The Eighteenth Exhibition of Artists from Chicago and Vicinity, The Art Institute of Chicago
The Thirty-ninth Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C.; Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinios; Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
1984
Content: A Contemporary Focus 1974-1984, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D. C.
Ten Years of Collecting at the MCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Alternative Spaces: A History in Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
1982
Brown, Nutt, Paschke, Galerie Rudolf Zwirner, Cologne
The Comic Art Show, Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York
Gladys Nilsson, Jim Nutt, Ed Paschke, Suellen Rocca, Karl Wirsum, Galerie Bonnier, Geneva
From Chicago, The Pace Gallery, New York
Focus on the Figure: Twenty Years, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
American Prints 1960-1980, Milwaukee Art Museum
1981
New Dimensions in Drawing 1950-1980, Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, Connecticut
Amerikanische Malerei 1930-1980, Haus der Kunst, Munich (Organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art)
Drawing Acquisitions 1978-1981, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Prints and Multiples: Seventy-ninth Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, The Art Institute of Chicago
The Image in American Painting and Sculpture 1950-1980, Akron Art Museum, Ohio
1980
Who Chicago? An Exhibition of Contemporary Imagists, Camden Arts Center, London; Ceofrith Gallery, Sunderland Arts Centre, England; Third Eye Centre, Glasgow; Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh; Ulster Museum, Belfast; Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans
American Drawings in Black and White, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY
American Figure Painting 1950-1980, The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
The Figurative Tradition and the Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Six Artists from Chicago, James Mayor Gallery, London
Art in Our Time: The HHK Foundation for Contemporary Art, Inc., Milwaukee Art Museum; Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia; University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City; Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis, Tennessee; University Art Museum, University of Texas, Austin
1979
Chicago Currents: The Koffler Foundation Collection of The National Collection of Fine Arts, The National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C., and tour
Intricate Structure/Repeated Image, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia
1978
Chicago: The City and Its Artists 1945-1978, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor
Chicago Collects Chicago, Gallery 200, Northern Illinois University, Dekalb
1977
New in the Seventies, University of Texas, Austin
Words at Liberty, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
1977
Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1976
Seventy-second American Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago
Today/Tomorrow: Selected Contemporary Artists, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
1975
Recent Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and tour. (Organized by the American Federation of Arts)
1975
Art on Paper, Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Art Now, Artrend Foundation, John F. Kennedy Center, Washington, D. C.
1974
Contemporary American Painting and Sculpture 1974, Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Made in Chicago, The National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
1973
Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
American Drawings 1963-1973, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
1972
Seventieth American Exhibition, The Art Institute of Chicago
Working in California, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York
La Biennale di Venezia: XXXVI Esposizione Internationale d'Arte, Venice, Italy, and tour
Chicago Imagist Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; New York Cultural Center, New York
1971
Raid and the Shutterbug: Jim Nutt and Roger Vail, Candy Store Gallery, Folsom, California
Phyllis' Teens, Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago
1970
Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Sculpture and Drawings, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Thirteen Chicago Artists, Richard Feigen Gallery, New York
Prints: Stephen French, Charles Gill, James Nutt, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Three Famous Artists from Chicago, Candy Store Gallery, Folsom, California
1969
Human Concern/Personal Torment: The Grotesque in American Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; University Art Museum, University of California, Berkeley
Hairy Who, The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Dupont Center, Washington, D. C.
Don Baum Sez "Chicago Needs Famous Artists," Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago
1968
Seventy-first Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, The Art Institute of Chicago
Hairy Who, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; San Francisco Art Institute
1967
Pictures to be Read/Poetry to be Seen, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Hairy Who, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
1966
Toy Show, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
Hairy Who, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
1965
The Chicago School - Part 3, 1960 to the Present, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
Exhibition Chicago, The University of Illinois, Circle Campus
1964
Eye on Chicago, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
The Sunken City Rises, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago
5 Young Chicago Painters, Old Town Art Center, Chicago
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Art Institute of Chicago
Ball State Museum of Art, Muncie, Indiana
Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, Wisconsin
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, New York
Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
Museum of Modern Art, New York
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska
Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D. C.
Smithsonian Archives of American Art, Washington, D. C.