| Maker(s): | Nutt, Jim
| | Culture: | American (1938 - )
| | Title: | What a Pleasant Surprise
| | Date Made: | 1978
| | Type: | Drawing
| | Materials: | Color pencil and graphite on paper
| | Place Made: | United States
| | Measurements: | sheet: 6 in x 6 15/16 in; 15.2 cm x 17.6 cm
| | Accession Number: | SC 2012.1.13
| | Credit Line: | Gift of The Pokross Art Collection, donated in accordance with the wishes of Muriel Kohn Pokross, class of 1934 by her children, Joan Pokross Curhan, class of 1959, William R. Pokross and David R. Pokross Jr. in loving memory of their parents, Muriel Kohn Pokross, class of 1934 and David R. Pokross
| | Museum Collection: | Smith College Museum of Art
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Label Text:
Jim Nutt and his wife Gladys Nilsson were two of the founding members of the Chicago-based surrealist group Hairy Who. Coming out of the Art Institute of Chicago in the early 1960s, the group rebelled against Pop Art, the dominant style of the New York art scene. More narrative and figurative in style, and with a stronger emphasis on technique, this group, otherwise known as the Chicago Imagists, chose a significantly different artistic path.
Nutt's work is humorous, at times erotic, bold in color and meticulously crafted. He revels in human absurdity, borrowing some of his narrative language from comic book art, not unlike the controversial cartoonist Robert Crumb.
What distinguishes Nutt’s work from that of other artists’ work is his remarkable use of color, exemplified in this small pencil drawing. His subtle color transitions are reminiscent of delicate Japanese woodcuts. His subjects, however, are less delicate; in conjunction with his surreal style, they create a provocative visual contrast to his refined technique.
In What a Pleasant Surprise, nude male characters of various sizes literally surround a “foxy” female figure. One particularly priapic male is holding up what looks like a mirror, while another studies one of the female’s curiously shaped “hands.”
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+2012.1.13 |
