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Meet “Stan”
Stanley Matthew Mitruk (1922-2006)
Chicago artist · Active 1939-1964
Stanley Matthew Mitruk (January 22, 1922 – December 10, 2006) was a Chicago artist who worked intensively from 1939 through 1964.¹
He studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1941–42) and was a private student of Julio de Diego at Jane Addams Hull House (1943).¹
Stan worked at the Art Institute of Chicago (1941–1945 or 1946), first in the Print Department, then in the Photography Gallery, designing installations, and later served as assistant to Kathryn Kuh on the Gallery of Art Interpretation.¹ ⁷ ⁸ Many of the catalogue photographs were taken for Stanley by Art Institute photographer Harold Allen and are held in the Ryerson Library there.¹
He exhibited regularly and won multiple awards in the Art Institute of Chicago’s “Chicago and Vicinity Art Exhibitions” (except in 1960) and participated in the Art Institute’s Rental Gallery program.¹ The Women’s Board’s Art Rental and Sales Gallery operated from 1954 to 1986; records of that program are held in the museum’s institutional archives.⁵ ⁶
He held solo exhibitions in Chicago, including at Main Street Gallery (North Michigan Avenue) and the Charles Feingarten Gallery (East Walton Place), in the Magnificent Mile area.³
Stanley taught crafts at the Arden Shore School for Boys in Lake Bluff, Illinois, and later taught life drawing and illustration (part-time) and Commercial Art at the Ray Vogue School on Michigan Avenue in Chicago (1949–1951).¹ He also designed sets and costumes for the Chicago Ballet Repertory Company and the Chicago Opera Company (1943–44).¹
In 1964, Mitruk stopped painting to work for the State of Illinois on landmark restoration projects. His work included architectural plans associated with the restoration of the William Henry Harrison Mansion (“Grouseland”) and the reconstruction of the John Deere Blacksmith Shop in Grand Detour, Illinois, including a large mural exhibit.⁴
REFERENCES:
- Jeffrey Cobb, Stanley Matthew Mitruk: Portrait of a Mid-Century Chicago Artist (Revised & Expanded 2026 edition), “Biography.”
- Ibid., photo section/caption for “Stanley Matthew Mitruk working in his Chicago studio, 1940s.”
- Ibid., reproduced gallery brochures/exhibition material for Main Street Gallery and the Charles Feingarten Gallery (solo exhibitions; addresses).
- Ibid., Appendix/documentation re: Illinois restoration work, including: “The William Henry Harrison Mansion (‘Grouseland’) … architectural set of plans,” and “JOHN DEERE MURAL by STANLEY MITRUK, 1969” / Grand Detour material.
- Smithsonian Archives of American Art (survey record), Women’s Board, Art Rental and Sales Gallery records (Art Institute of Chicago Institutional Archives) — program context and operating years (1954–1986).
- WBEZ Curious City, “Did The Art Institute of Chicago Ever Rent Out Paintings?” — program context: Art Rental and Sales Gallery launched by the Women’s Board in 1954.
- Art Institute of Chicago, “Press Releases from 1945” — Gallery of Art Interpretation documentation (institutional press materials referencing the Gallery and its curator).
- Yale University Library, Archives at Yale, Katharine Kuh collection description — biographical record noting her role as curator of the Gallery of Art Interpretation at the Art Institute of Chicago (from 1943).
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