Milo Quam 1941 - 1996
American, Painter

Milo Quam was born in Cooperstown, ND, 1941.

Quam was a self-taught artist who studied the Greek language and classical subjects and worked as a translator of Greek plays while just 17 years old. He performed on Broadway, notably in the leading role in the 1968 production of Royal Hunt of the Sun. Quam designed sets and costumes for the Actor's Playhouse in NYC. He also created illustrations for The Story of O published by Grove Press in 1970 and created a series of lithographs, based on the poem of Rimbaud, "Une Saison En Enfer," in 1975. He then turned his attention to painting and exhibited in many prominent galleries with twenty solo shows over the course of his career. He also exhibited internationally and was one of four artists to represent the United States in La Bienalle di Venezia, Italia of 1986.

He lived in the Woodstock region, purchasing a home in Shokan, NY in 1965 and was admired for his intelligence and wit, all of which are evidenced in his paintings which can be dense and disturbing and often erotically charged.

Quam produced over 700 oils and collages and innumerable drawings during his lifetime. He died in 1996 in Kingston, NY of complications from AIDS. He was survived by his lover of 32 years, sculptor, Miles Baron.