John Wilde

The Gallery may be interested in acquiring work by John Wilde. Contact us at: info@GalleryofWisconsinArt.com

BORN: 1919 in Milwaukee, WI
DIED: 2006 in Evansville, WI

John Wilde was born December 12, 1919 in Milwaukee, and attended the Milwaukee Public Schools. Reportedly, he was childhood friends with future artist Karl Priebe. While on a high school field trip to the studio of Alfred Sessler and Santos Zingale, he realized that his art could develop into a serious career and apprenticed briefly with Milwaukee painter Paul Clemens.

He attended the University of Wisconsin – Madison (1938-1942) and received a Bachelor of Arts degree.  Wilde was a lifelong member of Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors and participated in his first exhibition with them in 1934.

Wilde enlisted in the armed forces, medical corps and OSS from 1942-1946. These experiences were influential in the imagery he used later in his art, and throughout his career. 

Wilde returned to Madison in 1948 and received a Masters degree in Art Education. He joined the UW faculty and taught drawing in the Art Department for the next 34 years. Wilde retired in 1982 as Professor Emeritus. Wilde was attracted to the “Magic Realists”, associated with and influenced by Wisconsin artists Sylvia Fein, Dudley Huppler, Karl Priebe, Marshall Glaiser and Gertrude Abercrombie who led the movement in Chicago.

Wilde’s surrealistic subject matter combined images derived from his interest in the neoclassicism of the Renaissance, the natural world, and the Wisconsin landscape.

Wilde exhibited widely - both nationally and internationally, but lived out his entire life in Wisconsin.

Photo Credit: UW Art Department