The art world is buzzing with controversy after the School of the Art Institute of Chicago sold the extensive collection of renowned Chicago Imagist Roger Brown to a Wisconsin foundation, raising questions about cultural stewardship and the preservation of Chicago's artistic heritage. The sale of approximately 3,000 objects related to Brown's work and career to the foundation supporting the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, has divided opinions among artists, curators, and cultural preservationists.
Roger Brown, who died in 1997 at age 55, was among the most celebrated Chicago Imagists who gained national recognition in the 1960s and 70s. For much of his prolific career, Brown lived and worked in a converted 1880s storefront at 1926 North Halsted Street. About a year before his death, he generously donated the two-story house to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, which transformed it into a study center offering weekly classes, scholarly research opportunities, and public visits by appointment.
The study center operated successfully until 2020, when it closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened. Then, in December of last year, the School of the Art Institute shocked Chicago's art community by announcing it had sold the house's entire contents to the Kohler foundation. The institution later put the historic house itself on the market for $1.175 million, further intensifying the controversy.
The backlash from the art community has been swift and passionate. "I'm sure the Kohler will be a respectful and dutiful steward of it, but it's not the same," said Gladys Nilsson, a famous Chicago artist who was featured in the Hairy Who retrospective at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2018-19. "They've other such collections and have reproduced living spaces, but it's a shallow feeling for those who've had the [good] fortune of experiencing the real thing, and having Roger's house/collection intact was the real thing."
Richard Hull, a Chicago artist and close friend of Brown who lived next to him for three years, expressed even stronger criticism. "You could almost say his work was iconic Chicago, because he portrayed Chicago so often in his paintings, so lovingly but also with a bit of bile," Hull explained. "He's incredibly important." Hull called the disposal of the study collection "a tragedy for SAIC" because it represented an irreplaceable and easily accessible resource for students and researchers.
The sale process itself has drawn significant criticism for its secretive nature. Lisa Stone, who served as the collection's curator for 23 years, said negotiations were conducted without her knowledge and the announcement came as a stunning surprise. "They didn't want any pushback, and they didn't want any help," she revealed. Hull, who served on a steering committee that helped administer the study collection, confirmed that the body was never consulted about the sale, calling the timing particularly puzzling since SAIC had recently invested in extensive renovations to the study center, including HVAC upgrades.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago declined to make anyone available for interviews but released a statement defending its decision. The institution claimed it sold the objects to ensure they are "adequately preserved for years to come and remain publicly available." The statement also noted that "over the time that the school cared for Brown's home and especially during this latest renovation, it became clear that an appropriately safe and climate-controlled museum setting would best serve the art collection." SAIC announced that proceeds from both the residence and collection sales would support the school's department of painting and drawing, with funds specifically dedicated to Roger Brown Graduate Student Scholarships.
Concerns about the house's future intensified when the real estate listing described the property as an opportunity to "completely renovate or demolish the building." While the home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it lacked Chicago landmark designation, meaning nothing prevented its demolition. However, community activism has made progress: a petition to preserve the house has gathered more than 550 signatures, and last week, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks voted unanimously to grant the property preliminary landmark status, initiating a formal landmark designation process.
Brown's study collection represents a fascinating cross-section of artistic influences, consisting of African, tribal and outsider art, works by Imagists and other contemporary artists, international costumes and textiles, as well as toys and objects and ephemera of all kinds that Brown purchased in thrift stores and flea markets. Stone, the collection's longtime curator, noted that the holdings' artworks, for which appraisals were available, were estimated to be worth more than $3 million in 2018. According to Hull, such artist collections represent a Chicago tradition, with other Imagists like Jim Nutt and Karl Wirsum assembling similar holdings.
The personal significance of the collection was evident in a letter Brown wrote to Stone in June 1997, stating: "I feel the things in the collection are of universal appeal to all artists and people with a sense for the spiritual and mystical nature that material things can evoke." The objects were displayed throughout two stairways and in what had served as Brown's living quarters on the second floor. "It was all exactly as Roger left it," Hull recalled. "In the beginning, it was a little disturbing for me to go there, because I had spent so much time there with Roger and [his partner] George [Veronda]."
From the Kohler Arts Center's perspective, the acquisition represents an opportunity to keep the collection intact while maintaining it within a 150-mile radius of Chicago. The Brown collection complements Kohler's existing holdings of two other Chicago Imagists: Yoshida and Barbara Rossi. "So, the idea we could continue to build out that strength in Chicago Imagists and tell that story was really exciting to us," explained Jodi Throckmorton, Kohler's chief curator.
The collection is now being showcased in a new exhibition at the Kohler Center that offers audiences a glimpse into Brown's visual world and the inspirations behind his cartoonish, folksy style and depictions of semi-imaginary architecture and landscapes. The exhibition, titled "Recent Acquisition: Roger Brown Study Collection," is located at Kohler's satellite Art Preserve at 3636 Lower Falls Road in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and runs through spring 2026 with free admission. While the show displays only a fraction of the newly acquired objects, it aims to provide visitors with an introductory taste of the artist's vast collection, which the center plans to fully showcase in future exhibitions.
A portion of the collection is expected to eventually be permanently displayed at Kohler's Art Preserve, a 50,000-square-foot facility about two miles from the downtown museum that opened in 2020. The facility houses 32 artist-built environments, essentially immersive spaces that artists created to showcase their own work or objects important to them. The Brown exhibition is strategically positioned just outside the Art Preserve space devoted to Yoshida, who mentored Brown and other Chicago Imagists, while Imagist works from the Brown collection and other parts of Kohler's holdings are temporarily featured in the Yoshida space.
Looking ahead, Laura Bickford, a Kohler curator who oversees the Art Preserve, views the current show as an introduction to Brown and his study collection, serving as a lead-in to a much larger exhibition planned for three to five years from now. This future exhibition could combine elements from the museum's Brown, Yoshida, and Rossi holdings, potentially creating a comprehensive showcase of Chicago Imagist art and influences. Despite these ambitious plans, the controversy surrounding the collection's departure from Chicago continues to highlight broader questions about institutional responsibility, cultural heritage preservation, and the proper stewardship of artistic legacies.
