For more than 70 years, Amft has produced an impressive collection of artwork – oils, watercolors, collages, sculptures, photographs. Amft lives and makes art in Chicago.
Born in 1916 into a family of graphic artists, Amft grew up in Chicago during the Great Depression. After graduating from High School, he worked for the New Deal’s Civilian Conservation Corps in the Sawtooth Mountains of Idaho.In 1936, he enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and studied under the tutelage of Francis Chapin. In 1938, he received a scholarship from the Saugatuck Summer School of Painting.
He entered advertising and publishing design upon graduation and has taught at the Ray School in Chicago and the New Orleans Academy of Art. He is a retired chief book designer. During his long career, he has had 23 one-man shows. Amft has received awards from dozens of respectable exhibitions. Honors include, “Robert Amft – Artist of the Year”, from the Oxbow School in Saugatuck, Michigan. His painting, Sunday Afternoon in Lincoln Park, won First Prize at the New Horizons Annual Exhibition in 1975, and his painting, Head, won the Renaissance Prize at the Chicago Vicinity Show. In 1985, he accepted a Painting Award from Beverly Art Center and in 1986, he was Curator’s Choice at the Art Sales and Rental Gallery of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited his watercolors at the International Watercolor Show and local exhibitions.
His photography and design have won over fifty awards and have been reproduced in Graphics Annual, N.Y. Art Director Annual, Life, and Photo Graphics. His sculpture, Dog, won an award in the 1994 Beverly Art Center Annual Exhibition and his Whistler’s Mother sculpture won the Best of Show Award at the 1997 Later Impressions’ Exhibit held at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.
