Chicago Art Curator Speyer Dead at 73
CHICAGO — A. James Speyer, a well-known curator of painting and sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago, has died after a long illness. He was 73.
Speyer, who died Sunday, gained a reputation as a dynamic force in the contemporary art scene during his 25-year tenure at the institute, counting as friends such artists as Jasper Johns, Frank Stella and Georgia O’Keeffe.
“Jim was unique among the curators of his generation in combining a passion for contemporary American work with a knowledge of and respect for the most advanced art that continued to be produced in Europe,” institute Director James N. Wood said in a statement Monday.
Speyer studied at the Illinois Institute of Technology, served in World War II and then returned to teach at the institute of technology in 1946.
From 1957-60, Speyer was a visiting Fulbright professor at the National University in Athens, Greece.
He became curator of 20th Century painting and sculpture at the Art Institute in 1961.
The biggest entertainment stories
Get our big stories about Hollywood, film, television, music, arts, culture and more right in your inbox as soon as they publish.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
