Ronald Ahlström
1922-2012

Born in Chicago, Ronald Ahlström graduated from the School of the Art Institute, where he frequently exhibited his collages and paintings in the Chicago and Vicinity exhibits of the 1950s and 1960s.

He also showed at Exhibition Momentum in the ’60s, and was selected for the Corcoran Biennial. Together with his colleagues and fellow-abstractionists Robert Nickle, Morris Barazani, Harry Bouras, George Kokines, and George Waite, he exhibited at McCormick Place in an independently produced survey of contemporary Chicagoans, circa 1962, under the banner 12 Chicago Artists.

An adept and sensitive painter, Ahlström’s most personal work is as an abstract expressionist collage maker. Using strips of paper, sometimes weathered and beaten into rough hewn surfaces, he creates immaculately layered, lively, gestural compositions.

Education:

Art Institute of Chicago
University of Chicago
DePaul University

Exhibitions:

Art Institute of Chicago Annuals, 27 Corcoran Biennial in Washington DC, 12 Chicago Artists, 50 Chicago Artists European Exhibit at the US Information Agency, College and Construction, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Chicago Artist’s 1963, Tacoma Art Museum, Washington, Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, 50th Northwestern Annual, Seattle Art Museum, Chicago Invitational, University of Illinois, and many more.

One Man Exhibits:

Rockford College, Rockford Il.
Barat College, Lake Forest Il.
Rodger Wilson Gallery, Chicago, Il.
Touchstone Gallery, New York, NY.
Joseph Faulkner, Main Street Galleries, Chicago, Il.
Zriny Galleries, Chicago Il.

Awards:

Clyde Carr Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
William H. Bartels Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
James Broadus Clark Prize, Art Institute of Chicago
Alumni of Art Institute Prize
Singer and Sons Prize, Navy Pier, Chicago
Abel Fagan Prize, Festival of Fine Arts, Lake Forest, Il.
Ford Foundation Purchase Prize, Seattle, Wa.

Collections:

Art Institute of Chicago
Barat College
Tacoma Art Museum, Wa.
Phibrook Art Center, Tulsa, Ok.
Blue-Cross Collection, Chicago, Il.
Atlantic Richfield Collection
Illinois Bell Telephone Collection
Container Corporation of America Collection
Gutenberg Museum, Mainz, Germany
Playboy Enterprises, Chicago, Il.
Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC.
Art Collection 1st National Bank, Chicago
And many private collections

Publications:
Who’s Who in America
Who’s Who in American Art
Who’s Who of Midwest Art
Art News, New York
The Art Gallery Magazine
Chicago Art Review
And others.