Biographical Timeline
1896 Born Lillian Pearl Hyman on May 17, in New Orleans, Louisiana
1916 B.A., Philosophy, Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts
1918 Marries Irving S. Florsheim on Feb. 14, in New Orleans, Louisiana
1920 University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1922 Daughter Nancy Jane born May 8
1933 Dec. 10, Lillian and Irving are robbed at gunpoint in front of their home, an event that made national news
1936 I. S. Florsheim badly injured in explosion and fire at their Libertyville farm
1946 Lillian and I. S. Florsheim divorce
1946 Lillian Florsheim purchases and moves into residences at 1328 N. State Street
1946 Daughter Nancy marries architect Bertrand Goldberg
1946–47 Studies painting in studio of Henry Hensche, Provincetown, Massachusetts
1948–50 Studies painting in studio of Rudolph Weisenborn, Chicago, Illinois
1948–54 Studies painting in studio of George Buehr, Chicago, Illinois
1949 First solo trip to Europe
1951 I. S. Florsheim remarries, to Mrs. Helen Ford (widow of Eugene Ford)
1951 Studies sculpture at Institute of Design, Chicago, Illinois (with Hugo Weber)
1953 Chicago Tribune features Florsheim’s “ultra-modern” kitchen, designed by son-in-law Bertrand Goldberg
1954 Begins working in plastic, making cigarette lighters and boxes
1956 Visits Venice Bienniale
1959 I. S. Florsheim dies
1964 Seventh annual Art Festival North Shore Art League
1964 Exhibition, curated by Don Baum, “The World of Pure Painting,” from Florsheim’s collection plus her painting Construction in Black and Blue, Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago, Illinois
1964 Group Exhibition “Moevement,” at Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
1965 Group Exhibition “Art et Mouvement,” Helena Rubenstein Pavilion, Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel
1965 Awarded Old Orchard Award, at “Annual Exhibition of Area Artists,” North Shore Art League, Evanston, Illinois
1966 Oehlschaeger Gallery, at 107 Oak St Chicago
1966 46th Annual Exhibition of Members, Arts Club, Chicago, Illinois (also exhibits here in subsequent years)
1966 First Solo Exhibition at Main Street Gallery, Chicago
1966 Solo Exhibition at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
1966 “A Selection of Abstract Art, 1917-1965,” selection of pieces from Lillian H. Florsheim Foundation for Fine Arts, shown at the Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, Massachusetts
1967 Group Exhibition, “Chicago Area Artists,” Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, Iowa
1967 Group Exhibition, “Art of the 20th Century,” Museum des XX Jahrhunderts, Vienna, Austria
1967 Group Exhibition, “Art et Mouvement,” Musée d’Art Contemporain, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
1967 Solo Exhibition at Galerie Krugier et Cie, Genève, Switzerland
1967 Receives award for entry in “New Horizons in Sculpture” exhibit, Marina City, Chicago, Illinois
1968 Exhibition at Main Street Gallery, Chicago
1968 Solo Exhibition at Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
1968 Donates sculpture (of “fluted plexiglass”) for live on-air auction to benefit WTTW-Channel 11, Chicago, Illinois
1968 Plexiglass sculptures exhibited at the Jewish Children’s Bureau 13th annual Assembly Ball, Grand Ballroom of the Conrad Hilton Hotel, Chicago, Illinois
1968 Sculpture (“No. 26”) is auctioned at Women’s Board gala first anniversary celebration, to benefit Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
1968 Donates sculpture for Winnetka Lions art auction to support Hadley School for the Blind, Winnetka, Illinois
1968 Featured in Time Magazine art section article, “Collectors: A Life of Involvement,” and associated glossy spread profiling “Chicago’s Connoisseurs: Cool, Clued-in, Discerning.” (March 29)
1969 Solo Exhibition at Galerie Denise René-Hans Meyer, Krefeld, Germany
1970 Three Person Show with Richard Koppe and Kazys Varnelis at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, Illinois
1970 Photograph of “Untitled,” published in Studio International
1970 Solo Exhibition at Joseph Faulkner-Main Street Gallery, Chicago
1970 Donates plexiglass columnar sculpture for art auction “Exhibit A: Testimony of Art,” to benefit the Jeremiah Stamler, M.D. Legal Aid Fund, held at the Sheraton-Blackstone Hotel
1972 Solo Exhibition at Main Street Gallery, Chicago
1972 Solo Exhibition at Circle Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana
1972 Solo Exhibition at Pyramid Gallery, Washington, D.C.
1976 Exhibition “Geometric Abstract Art from the Lillian H. Florsheim Foundation for Fine Arts,” at the David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
1980 Solo Exhibition at Fairweather Hardin Gallery, Chicago, from which the Art Institute of Chicago acquired Black, Diamond Rods for its permanent collection.
1980 Solo Exhibition at Patricia Moore Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
1980 Group exhibition “Women Artists, 1600-1980: Selections from Five College Collections,” at Mead Art Museum, Amherst College, Amherst, Massachusetts
1981 Group Exhibition, “The Geometric Impulse: Selected Works from the Lillian H. Florsheim Foundation for the Fine Arts,” Swen Parson Gallery, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois
1983 Interview with Claire Wolf Krantz published in New Art Examiner
1984 Solo Exhibition at Patricia Moore Gallery, Aspen, Colorado
1985 Solo Retrospective Exhibition at Loyola University of Chicago, Illinois
1985 Exhibition “les femmes et l’abstraction constructive,” at Galerie Denise René, Paris, France
1988 Lillian Florsheim dies on Dec. 28.