Gleefully Askew

Gladys Nilsson’s humorous and exuberant observations of everyday life
A long-overdue monograph! This book brings together the iconic works of Gladys Nilsson: watercolours, paintings, drawings, and prints from critical moments in her 60-year career. The lavishly illustrated publication includes new scholarship that highlights Nilssons contributions to postwar and contemporary art.
Well known for watercolours of long-limbed figures engaged in everyday micro-dramas, Nilssons works earned her a reputation as the most feminine member of Chicagos Hairy Who group in the 1960s a characterization she has challenged and spoofed. Nilssons self-reflexive and often humorous approach has guided her experimental practice, which also includes Plexiglas paintings, mixed-media collage, and embroidery hoop paintings, all of which are reproduced in this comprehensive retrospective catalogue.

Francesca Wilmott is a curator at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California.