Ronald Ahlstrom, Abstract Mixed Media Torn Paper Collage Pop Expressionist Painting

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American Artist 1922 – 2012

Served his country as a Sergeant in World War II, both stateside and in the … Read more American Artist 1922 – 2012

Served his country as a Sergeant in World War II, both stateside and in the Philippines. After the war, native Chicagoan Ronald Ahlström graduated from the School of the Art Institute, He became a prominent Abstract Expressionist collage assemblage maker working in a style similar to some of the New York school assemblage artists such as Robert Goodnough. Utilizing cutout letters in a concrete poetry style. He frequently exhibited his collages and paintings in the Chicago and Vicinity exhibits of the 1950s and 1960s. He worked as the curator of the Tacoma Art Museum in Tacoma WA during the early 1960s. He 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. He was the recipient of many art awards and prizes throughout his long career. His works are part of numerous private, corporate and museum collections. His work was published in many national and international art publications including Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Art. he taught art at both high school and college level. His other passions included history, literature and music. He was an accomplished base fiddle and guitar player and often played professionally in clubs during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1958, he was awarded the William H. Bartels Prize of five hundred dollars at the Art Institute of Chicago.



Education:

Art Institute of Chicago
University of Chicago
DePaul University

Exhibitions:

Art Institute of Chicago Annuals,
Corcoran Biennial in Washington DC,
12 Chicago Artists
50 Chicago Artists
European Exhibit at the US Information Agency
Collage and Construction, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago
Tacoma Art Museum, Washington
Henry Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle
50th Northwestern Annual, Seattle Art Museum,
Chicago Invitational, University of Illinois

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


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 See less