Elmer Sanders: Rediscovery of a Chicago Outsider Artist

Over 40 works on paper, a gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harlan J. Berk to the Koehnline Museum, present exhilarating images by Chicago outsider artist Elmer Sanders. The majority of the works in this collection produced by the artist during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and contains the inscription “Inmate Cook County Jail, Arts and Craft Show, Block E, Tier 3”. Sander’s crayons, markers, and pencils works resemble the artistic qualities of the Chicago Imagists group that started around the same time. They consist of a mixture of surrealism and expressionism, bright neon colors, semi-abstracted elements, and spikey motifs.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website