Malcolm Hackett

Malcolm Hackett was born in St. Louis, MN in 1900. As a child, he moved with his widowed mother from Tomah, WI and then on to Chicago. He attended the Art Institute of Chicago from 1934-1938. Hackett taught at the Art institute of Chicago and at Oxbow, the Art Institute’s summer program. He became head of the art department at Francis Parker School in 1939. Hackett was artist Edward Gorey’s art instructor at Francis Parker School and had a profound influence on him. He exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Renaissance Society of the University of Chicago and the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C.. Hackett was part of the mural division of the Federal Art Project and in 1936, created the mural “Pre-Glacial America” for the Lincoln School in Oak Park, IL. There is a Hackett drawing in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Hackett is best known for his watercolors. Later in life, he retired to San Diego, CA, where he died there in 1983.