Leopold Segedin (March 22, 1927 – January 7, 2025) was an American artist and educator based in Chicago. He is best known as an urban figurative painter, who portrayed humanist scenes of life in mid-20th century Chicago.Klauba, Judith Lloyd and Doug Stapleton. "Luminous Ground: Artists with Histories," The Living Museum, Illinois State Museum, v. 73, n. 1 & 2, 2011, p. 3 & 23.Chicago Cultural Center. "Leopold Segedin – I Remember: Chicago Themes 1947–1994," Exhibition materials, 1994.Sokol, David M. "Leopold Segedin's Chicago," Leopold Segedin: A Habit of Art, Chicago: Outbound Ike Publishing, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018. He exhibited for over 70 years, including retrospectives at the Chicago Cultural Center, University Club of Chicago, University of Illinois, and Northeastern Illinois University, and major group shows at the Art Institute of Chicago, Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, Illinois State Museum and Des Moines Art Center, among others.Gerst, Virginia. "Segedin shows street smarts," Pioneer Press, June 26, 1997. His art has received awards from the Art Institute of Chicago,The Art Institute of Chicago. 1951 News Releases, "55th Annual Exhibition by Artists of Chicago and Vicinity, list of prize-winners", May 23, 1951. Retrieved August 22, 2018. Terry Art Institute, Corcoran Gallery of Art (juried by George Grosz), and American Jewish Arts Club.Fox, Rabbi G. George. "The Watch Tower," The Sentinel, March 28, 1957, p. 13.Holland, Frank. "Rapapport Wins Top Award in Jewish Arts Club Exhibit," Chicago Sun-Times, March 22, 1959, s. 3, p. 9.Aronson, Claire R. "Mostly about people," National Jewish Post and Opinion, March 30, 1962. Segedin was one of Art in America’s 1956 "New Talent in the U.S.A." artistsKuh, Katherine. "New Talent in the U.S.A.," Art in America, February 1956, p. 10–1. and has been featured in The Washington Post,The Washington Post. "Theaters Showing Works of Art Here," The Washington Post, September 13, 1953. p. 3L. Chicago Tribune,Artner, Alan. "On view," Chicago Tribune, April 19, 2009. The Philadelphia Inquirer,Bonte, C. H. "Paintings of Jewish Rites and History Shown in Comprehensive Jubilee Exhibit," The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 7, 1950, p. 45. Chicago Daily News,Schulze, Franz. "Architect Kahn Talks Here," Chicago Daily News, March 1962. and Chicago Sun-Times,Haydon, Harold. "Failure is success for 'More Chicago Artists,'" Chicago Sun-Times, January 28, 1972. among many publications. Chicago Tribune critic Alan Artner characterized Segedin's work as a "distinguished example" of magic realism; in visual terms, critics have often noted his vivid color, dynamic illusionist space, and rendering of light and surfaces that portray the passage of time.Artner, Alan. "Captivating magic realism," Chicago Tribune, April 12, 2002.Allen, Jane and Derek Guthrie. "Two generations show gap in paint," Chicago Tribune, January 2, 1972, p.18.Buchholz, Barbara B. "Group shows take viewers on a summer jaunt," Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1996.
Segedin was an educator, most notably at Northeastern Illinois University, where he taught for over three decades.Houlihan, Margaret. "Artists view mainly local," Chicago Sun-Times, March 17, 2002. He was also a prolific essay writer and public lecturer,Segedin, Leopold. "Making/Teaching Art: The Dangers of Teaching Art," Collage, Winter, 2018, p. 8–16. Retrieved August 26, 2018.Barry, Edward. "Art Notes," Chicago Tribune, March 8, 1964. and was a frequent panelist, exhibition juror, and active participant in Chicago's art community as a member of the Chicago Society of Artists and American Jewish Art Club (president, one term), and as co-founder and president of Chicago's first post-war, artist-run cooperative gallery, Exhibit A.Butler, Doris Lane. "A Group Gallery Opens," Chicago Daily News, July 1957.Warren, Lynne. Alternative Spaces: A History of Chicago, Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, 1984. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
Life and career Born in Chicago's West Side on March 22, 1927, Segedin showed an early aptitude for drawing that was encouraged with classes at the School of the Art Institute.Liebenson, Donald. "Work in Progress," Evanston Magazine, February 10, 2016, p. 28. After graduating from Crane Technical High School, he attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, intending to go into chemical or aeronautical engineering. A self-described "Eureka!" moment his junior year, however, convinced him to choose art (BFA, 1948; MFA 1950).The Art Institute of Chicago. Artists Oral History Archive, Leo Segedin, Retrieved August 22, 2018. In 1952, Segedin began military service and taught drafting at the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia until 1954. He continued to paint—in a studio above a bowling alley—and exhibit, winning prizes in shows at the Art Institute of Art of Chicago (AIC), Terry Art Institute in Miami, and Corcoran Gallery.Jewett, Eleanor. "2 Out-of-Doors Art Festivals Set for June," Chicago Tribune, June 3, 1951, Part 7, p. 8. Upon returning to Chicago, he decided to teach for a living, initially at a high school, before settling at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), where he served until retiring as Art Professor Emeritus in 1987, in order to paint full-time.
Segedin exhibited widely, appearing in the AIC's "60th Annual National Exhibition" (1952), seven of its annual "Chicago and Vicinity" shows, and a United States Information Traveling Exhibition (1957–9).O'Shea, Arthur. Review, Detroit Times, May 8, 1957. In 1956, Art in America selected him as one of 36 artists in its annual "New Talent in the U.S.A." survey. In subsequent decades, he exhibited at the Des Moines Art Center, Evanston Art Center, and Hyde Park Art Center and showed at the Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture and Loyola University as part of a group called the "5," and at the Byron Roche Gallery in Chicago (five solo shows, 1997–2009). The Chicago Cultural Center (1994), University Club of Chicago (2000), and NEIU (2010) each recognized him with retrospectives.Segedin, Leopold. Leopold Segedin: A Habit of Art, Chicago: Outbound Ike Publishing, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018. Segedin was one of eleven influential Illinois artists recognized the Illinois State Museum's "Luminous Ground: Artists with Histories" (2011), and was in the Muskegon Museum of Art's "Moments of Grace: New Regional Painting" (1999–2000).Dluzen, Robin. "Luminous Ground: Artists With Histories," Chicago Art Magazine, March 28, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2018. He is included in Harvest of Freedom: A Survey of Jewish Artists in America (1989) by Louise Dunn Yochim.Yochim, Louise Dunn. The Harvest of Freedom: Jewish Artists in America', 1930-1980s, American References, 1989. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
Segedin was married to his wife, Jan (née Steinberg), for over 45 years, until her death in 2005. He credited her as the "great support," that kept him on the "straight and narrow" path as an artist. They had two children, twins Benjamin and Paul, in 1962.Cahan, Richard. "Introduction," Leopold Segedin: A Habit of Art, Chicago: Outbound Ike Publishing, 2018. Retrieved August 22, 2018. Segedin pursued diverse cultural interests throughout his life: writing, lecturing, an ongoing monthly discussion group, and membership in a theater performance group spanning five decades.Chicago Tribune, "3 Authorities Plan Seminar on Fine Arts," Chicago Tribune, February 10, 1963. His painting Hey Kid (1988) inspired Michael Smith's song of the same title, as well as Segedin's inclusion as a character alongside legendary artists, in the painting-inspired folk revue, Hello Dali: From the Sublime to the Surreal (1998).Smith, Michael P. "'Hey Kid" video, New Music USA. Retrieved August 26, 2018. Reviewing the revue's staging at Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago Sun-Times theater critic Hedy Weiss called Segedin's "haunting vision" of Chicago streets "the great revelation of the show."Weiss, Hedy. "Hello Dali: From the Sublime to the Surreal," Chicago Sun-Times, November, 2000.Helbig, Jack. "Hello Dali: From the Sublime to the Surreal," Chicago Reader, November, 2000.
Segedin worked well into his 90s and was at work on a new painting at the time of his death. He died on January 7, 2025, at the age of 97.
Work Segedin was a humanist representational painter, depicting life amid Chicago's storied elevated ("L") trains, brick storefronts, schoolyards, alleyways and cobblestone streets, often glimpsed from two-flat back porches and transit platforms. Journalist Richard Cahan writes, "Chicago is in Leo Segedin's blood… [he] paints like Studs Terkel writes. In Chicagoese." Discussing his work, Segedin says, "[My] paintings are about loss, about loneliness, about search. They are about the loss of a loved one, and also the loss of all those people who were part of my life, even those I never knew […] As I look back on my life—my work—what strikes me is how fast time passes, the temporary, fragile quality of all life." Segedin was influenced by the 1930s legacy of social commitment and commentary—artists such as Ben Shahn, Hyman Bloom and Jack Levine—and German expressionists like George Grosz and Otto Dix. His work speaks to the human condition on subjects ranging from the Holocaust to war and imperialism to growing up and aging.
In his first two decades (1947–1966), Segedin favored cityscapes and people—heads, portraits, and scenes of city dwellers, musicians and religious figures. His style ranged from realistic to expressionist, as in Sax Man (1952), which featured rich, jewel-toned color, gestural brushwork, and an elongated figure with a convincing likeness.Zegman, Freda. "Young Chicagoans Exhibit Work Here," Detroit Times, May 1, 1957.Hakanson, Joy. "Chicago Artists in Lively Show," Detroit Times, May 8, 1957.Holland, Frank. "24 Artists Open Near N. Side Gallery," Chicago Sun-Times, July 28, 1959. He sometimes flirted with abstraction, particularly in cityscapes (such as Elevated Station, 1959), that critics noted for their effectively flat, linear compositions and patterning.Milwaukee Journal. Review, Milwaukee Journal, December 16, 1956. Chicago Tribune editor Edward Barry remarked on Segedin's ability to arouse "strong nostalgic emotion" in depictions of decaying, 19th-century buildings, such as Ruins (1952),Segedin, Leopold. Ruins, 1952. Retrieved August 28, 2018. which was also recognized by the Art Institute of Chicago.Barry, Edward. "Much of Value Found in Art of Chicagoan," Chicago Tribune, June 1952.
For a decade beginning in 1967, Segedin, in his words, "got hung up on social issues." The expressionist paintings and craypa drawings of his "Babel" series (1967)Segedin, Leopold. Babel #6, 1967. Retrieved August 28, 2018. viewed the dehumanization of the Vietnam War through the lens of the Holocaust. His "Polifiction" works (1968–9) addressed the temporality of power and humanity's inability to communicate in vivid images like Hanging Man (1968), depicting figures suspended from wheel spokes in chandelier or carousel fashion, set in convention-like settings, which referenced the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.Thorpe, Jane K. "Opening Exhibit Held 'Exciting,'" National Jewish Post and Opinion, September 1969. The "Body Count" (1970), "Body Parts" (1971–2), and "Permutations" (1976–9) series contrasted acid-colored, amorphous bodies and body parts with banal props like balloons, ribbons, and mechanical elements to represent the depersonalization that political order can visit on humanity.Segedin, Leopold. Parts of Man, 1971. Retrieved August 28, 2018. Curators and critics described them as humanist "inner and outer landscapes," "beautiful, lurid, and frightful," and disturbing canvasses whose "searing colors and eerie, decadent light pit order against organism."Miller, Nory. "The festive gallery in a casket factory," Chicago Sun-Times, April 4, 1976.