A leading figure in Chicago as artist, curator and educator in the 1960s and 1970s, Don Baum is credited as a significant leader in Chicago's rejuvenation as an arts center. He advocated institutional support for local artists, and having been appointed to choose America's entry to the 1973 San Paulo Biennale, he organized a landmark exhibition "Made in Chicago".

As an artist, he creates assemblages of found and hand-made materials and constructions that are "corpse-like plastic dolls that are imprisoned within transparent boxes." (38) His signature work is his "Domus" series, which was small houses, often with cutting-board bases, whose themes relate to shelter and its social and moral significance.

Don Baum was born in Esc...