Margaret Wharton (1943-2014) was an American artist, known for her sculptures of deconstructed chairs. She deconstructed, reconstructed and reimagined everyday objects to make works of art that could be whimsical, witty or simply thought-provoking in reflecting her vision of the world.
A longtime Chicago-based artist, Wharton had a prolific and celebrated career. Her work is included in a number of national museums and collections, and she has had lasting impact on multiple generations of artists. She died in her house at the age of 70 on January 20, 2014, in Riverside because of 'complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease'.
Biography
Margaret Wharton was born in Portsmouth, Virginia in 1943.
She received a degree from the University of Maryland in College Park and worked briefly in advertising before marrying and moving to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania where her husband began working at Bethlehem Steel. After starting a family Wharton became interested in working with steel. She took her first welding course at Moravian College in 1967.
She took classes at the School of the Art Institute, graduating with a B.F.A. in 1975 in sculpture. Wharton is also known for her part in founding Artemesia Gallery in 1972, Chicago’s first all-female art gallery. Featured artists included Hollis Sigler, Phyllis Bramson, Vera Klement, Carole Harmel and Claire Prussian. While Wharton was primarily a welder, she also created sculpture in wood, found objects, and non-traditional materials. Chairs feature prominently in her work.
Works
Wharton's first solo exhibition took place at the Phyllis Kind Gallery in Chicago in 1976. She had eleven more solo shows at the Kind Galleries in Chicago and New York City between 1977 and 1991. In 1981-82 another solo exhibition by Wharton, sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, traveled to Texas, Florida, and South Carolina. This exhibition was reviewed in Artforum in January 1982. Her work has been invited to many group exhibitions in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Wharton won the Anna Louise Raymond award in the "Fellowship Show" at the Art Institute of Chicago (1975), and the Logan Prize (1974) in the "Chicago and Vicinity Show" at the same institution. She completed commissions for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (1985), and the Chicago Public Library, West Lawn Branch (1986). Wharton also has been awarded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (1980, 1988).
Her work is in major private and permanent collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art, both in Chicago; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Dallas Museum, Texas; the Madison Art Center, Wisconsin; Seattle Art Museum, Washington; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City.
Honors, grants, and awards 2013The Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation Individual Support Grant1999Illinois Arts Council Grant1993National Endowment for the Arts Grant1988National Endowment for the Arts Grant1984Award in the Visual Arts1979National Endowment for the Arts Grant1972Founding Member, Artemisia Cooperative Gallery, Chicago, IL
Solo exhibitions 2016The Magic of Margaret Wharton, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL2014In Memoriam, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL2012Wharton’s World, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL2011Constructions, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL2010Some Assembly Required: A Margaret Wharton Retrospective, South Shore Arts, Munster, IN2008The Baseball Show, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL SOFA Chicago, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL2003Slicing it Thin, Montalvo, Saratoga, CA2000Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL; Rockford College Art Gallery, Rockford, IL1997Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL1996Discordant Voices, Jean Albano Gallery, Chicago, IL1996Mixed Media Sculpture, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI1995Margaret Wharton: Potent Objects/A Survey of Work1994Experimental Journey, Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL1992Slicing It Thin, Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL1991, 88, 85, 80, 76Phyllis Kind Gallery, Chicago, IL1990, 87, 83, 81, 79, 78, 77Phyllis Kind Gallery, New York, NY1985Evanston Art Center, IL (through 1995)1981-82Margaret Wharton, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL; Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, TX; University of South Florida Art Galleries, Tampa, FL; Gibbs Art Gallery, Charleston
Selected collections American Medical Association, Chicago, IL The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL Arthur Andersen Company, Chicago, IL AT&T, Chicago, IL Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Dallas Museum, Dallas, TX First National Bank, Chicago, IL Madison Art Center, Madison, WI Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA State of Illinois Collection, Chicago, IL Union League Club, Chicago, IL Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY Yale University Art Museum
References