“When the histories of art have all been written, Bob Mader will be remembered and prized as a major portraitist of the late 20th century. His work, like that of artists John Singer Sargent, Franz Xaver Winterhalter, Nicolas de Largilliere, Sir Thomas Lawrence, etc., will especially be cited for its aperture into how the affluent and powerful, nouveau or no, chose to see themselves; and how they and Bob Mader constructed scenarios and contexts in which to display and celebrate their status and zest for life.

From his early photography in the 60s and 70s, prior to his being a student at Chicago’s prestigious Institute of Design, to the largely landscape-based photography that intrigued him in the last years of his life, this was an artist whose career is a superb microcosm of the aims and procedures of modern photography, all linked by one very talented personality.”

James Yood
Professor at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago & writer for Artform and Aperture Magazines