A large textile piece of art with oil painted skins layered on top of fabric using colors like yellow, orange and black.

Angel Otero, "Red Island," 2019, oil skins on fabric

A History of Influence

Notable Alumni

An oil painting of a man wearing a red button down shirt and blue overalls.

Ivan Albright

SAIC 1919–23, HON 1977

A black and white photo of Tatsu Aoki holding a double bass instrument.

Tatsu Aoki

BFA 1983, MFA 1985

A mixed media drawing depicting a large demonstration advocating for various human rights causes.

Satoru Aoyama

MFA 2001

A lithograph self-portrait of Thomas Hart Benton on white woven paper.

Thomas Hart Benton

SAIC 1907–09

A large black statue of a seated figure with an outsized head in pictured in Rockefeller Plaza

Sanford Biggers

MFA 1999

A still from a DVD depicting pink abstract shapes.

Jeremy Blake

BFA 1993

An image of the front cover of Brown's book, Darth Vader and Son, which depicts Darth Vader eating ice cream with a young Luke Skywalker.

Jeffrey Brown

MFA 2002

An oil on canvas painting of a museum without a ceiling.

Roger Brown

BFA 1968, MFA 1970

A large, dark tunnel with sugar cane on the ground and a few people standing towards the end of the tunnel.

Tania Bruguera

MFA 2001, HON 2016

A found materials installation including steel, paint, and plastic.

John Chamberlain

BFA 1951–52

Digital video production that creates an endless loop of lights and shadows.

Paul Chan

BFA 1996

Two people unraveling a Confederate Battle Flag with their hands.

Sonya Clark

BFA 1993, HON 2023

A color lithograph of small, blue trees on ivory Japaneese paper.

Eleanor Coen

BFA 1940

An image of Nora Dunn wearing purple.

Nora Dunn

SAIC 1970–72

A page from Emil Ferris's book, My Favorite Thing Is Monsters, depicting a drawing of Mothman.

Emil Ferris

BFA 2008

An image of a flag pole in a body of water with a fire and smoke flag.

John Gerrard

MFA 2000

An acrylic felt and glass bead piece with red nylon fringe along the bottom.

Jeffrey Gibson

BFA 1995

An acrylic on canvas interrogation scene with several human figures.

Leon Golub

BFA 1949, MFA 1950, HON 1982

A black ink and brush painting of a man with a bat on his head on cream wove paper.

Edward Gorey

SAIC 1943

A person in a yellow dress and hat sitting on a swing over some grass by the water.

Jonathan Green

BFA 1982

A sculpture of Chicago made with plywood and beaverboard, acrylic paint, and motors.

Red Grooms

SAIC 1955

A person wearing a peach, one shoulder draped dress.

Halston

SAIC 1952

A political cartoon depicting two people as Congress and the White House.

Herblock

SAIC 1920

A picture of a person sitting down in the sand by a stick.

Sang-soo Hong

MFA 1989

Xray images of people's carry on bags lining a wall at the San Diego International Airport.

Walter Hood

MFA 2013

Sculpture of a man constructed with steel.

Richard Hunt

BFA 1957, HON 1979

Aluminum sculpture spelling L-O-V-E

Robert Indiana

BFA 1954

A silverpoint drawing of some abstract columns on white wove paper.

Michiko Itatani

BFA 1974, MFA 1976

A Vandyke print of a person with their eyes closed.

Rashid Johnson

SAIC 2003–04, HON 2018

Two models wearing Gemma Kahng's designs.

Gemma Kahng

BFA 1980

A large mirror with gilded wood to create unique shapes and spaces covering the mirror.

Jeff Koons

SAIC 1975–76, HON 2008

An acrylic gouache on paper depicting gold, pink and purple flowers.

Judy Ledgerwood

MFA 1984

A watercolor of a mysterious feather-masked person using bright colors and textures.

Robert Lostutter

SAIC 1958–62

A still from the movie Gigi showing Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan.

Vincente Minnelli

SAIC 1931

An abstract oil painting using bright lines of colors such as pink, orange and yellow on linen.

Joan Mitchell

BFA 1947, HON 1988

A oil on canvas self portrait of Archibald J. Motley, Jr.

Archibald J. Motley, Jr.

SAIC 1914–18, HON 1980

A brightly colored, sculptural, shaped canvas using blue and green oil paint.

Elizabeth Murray

BFA 1962, HON 1992

A painting of people on the beach at Indiana Dunes State Park.

LeRoy Neiman

SAIC 1946–50, HON 2006

A black and white photograph of a person sitting by a fountain that is shaped like a frog.

Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba

BFA 1992

An etching and aquatint of a person wearing a long black dress on gray wove paper.

Audrey Niffenegger

BFA 1985

A colorful watercolor over graphite depicting a crowd of students on off-white wove paper.

Gladys Nilsson

BFA 1962, HON 2016

A acrylic painting of a blue figure wearing a blue dress against a pink background on canvas.

Jim Nutt

DIP 1965, BFA 1967, HON 2016

An oil painting of irregular white ovals over a gradient blue background.

Georgia O'Keeffe

SAIC 1905–06, HON 1967

An installation of a clothespin made with Cor-ten and stainless steel.

Claes Oldenburg

SAIC 1951–54, HON 1979

A large textile piece of art with oil painted skins layered on top of fabric using colors like yellow, green, orange and black.

Angel Otero

BFA 2007, MFA 2009

Mountains and a grassy hillside under a pink and orange sunset.

Trevor Paglen

MFA 2002

A colorful oil painting of several heads, Earth, and a set of keys on linen.

Ed Paschke

BFA 1961, MFA 1970, HON 1990

An image of Michelle Obama in a blue dress designed by Maria Pinto.

Maria Pinto

BFA 1990, HON 2017

A woman wearing an outfit designed by J. Morgan Puett that is constructed in sections that button together to create a variety of garments.

J. Morgan Puett

BFA 1981, MFA 1984

A woman wearing a tan dress with an intricate purple flower on the bodice.

Cynthia Rowley

BFA 1981, HON 2023

Two large red and orange boxes stacked in an open gallery.

Sterling Ruby

BFA 2002

An oil pastel and graphite piece of art depicting two colorful figures walking towards lights.

Jerry Saltz

SAIC 1970–75, HON 2008

This installation was comprised of an American flag displayed on the ground beneath a photomontage and a comment book.

Dread Scott

BFA 1989

A black and white image of David Sedaris in his apartment.

David Sedaris

BFA 1987 HON 1995

A model wearing a dark navy top with a shimmery navy skirt with silver sandals.

Jasmin Shokrian

BFA 1998

A black and white photo of Bette Davis.

Victor Skrebneski

SAIC 1943, HON 1999

A gouache and ink painting depicting a figure next to a large circle.

Nancy Spero

BFA 1949

Knit camel wool pullover sweater with a gold crackled surface paired with a Baby Alpaca, woven, straight knee-length skirt.

Lawrence Steele

BFA 1985

A light blue oil painting with hints of green, orange and white.

Robert Storr

MFA 1978, HON 2001

A purple and gold checkered pattern over a photograph of a naked figure.

Kunie Sugiura

BFA 1967

A large, black, abstact shaped aquatint on white woven paper.

Donald Sultan

MFA 1975

A room with 4 black, tennis tables.

Rirkrit Tiravanija

MFA 1986

A projected image of a person in the Guggenheim museum in New York.

Wu Tsang

BFA 2004

The cover of Sarah Vowell's book, "Lafayette in the Somewhat United States."

Sarah Vowell

MA 1998

A large-panel comic made with pen and black ink, over graphite, with white gouache, and blue colored pencil on Bristol board.

Chris Ware

SAIC 1991–93, HON 2019

Two people sitting at a wooden table surrounded by trees and tall grass.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

MFA 1998, HON 2011

Galvanized plumbing pipes and fixtures, a small skyscraper, a tiny toy soldier guarding an ornamental bridge, and a pair of bright red lips that refer to the local rug company Magikist make up the body of this iconic work.

H.C. Westermann

SAIC 1947–53, HON 1979

A color lithograph of a person wearing a hood with a pink shell hovering above on cream wove paper.

Charles White

SAIC 1937–38

A colorful screenprint of a red, yellow and green figure on off-white wove paper.

Karl Wirsum

BFA 1961, HON 2016

An oil painting of two human figures on Beaver Board.

Grant Wood

SAIC 1913–16

An acrylic on canvas painting of two figures that are facing each other.

Ray Yoshida

BAE 1953