Ray Yoshida

Ray Yoshida was an American artist considered to be the inspiration for a group of artists known as the Chicago Imagists and The Hairy Who. An icon in the Chicago art scene of the 1960s 19, collector and a faculty member of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (from 1958 to 2003), Yoshida’s influence on the generation of artists such as Jim Nutt, Roger Brown and Gladys Nilsson, is not to be understated. Yoshida’s works are rendered in distinct earthy tones and incorporate graphic and collage techniques. He was an avid collector of his fellow artists and students’ works and objects and artefacts he would find in the flea markets of Chicago. His impressive home collection was both local and idiosyncratic, looking beyond the canon of Western art.