Seymour Rosofsky

BIO

b. 1924 – d. 1981

Lived and worked in Chicago, Illinois.

Seymour Rosofsky is one of the key figures in twentieth century Chicago art.  Emerging in the late 1940s as part of the movement later dubbed the “Monster Roster,” alongside Leon Golub, Nancy Spero, June Leaf, and Dominick Di Meo, he initially painted grotesque, existentially angst-ridden figures, perfect little monsters.  By the early 1960s, Rosofsky had begun to develop a singularly fantastical style rooted in observational painting, creating unflinching masterworks like “Unemployment Agency” (which has hung in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office) and “Homage to Spain, Thalydomide Children, Others” (in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago).  Rosofsky’s brilliance as a painter is widely recognized, but he was also a spectacular draughtsman with a particular interest in drawing as both a process and a medium.