Bramson organized the exhibition, "What Came After: Figurative Painting in Chicago 1978-1998" at the Elmhurst Art Museum, which focused on an informal collective of figurative artists alternately called third-generation or Post-Imagists, or the "Chicago School." The show included artists such as Nicholas Africano, Bramson herself, Susanne Doremus, Richard Hull, Michiko Itatani, Paul Lamantia, Jim Lutes, David Sharpe, Hollis Sigler, and Mary Lou Zelazny, among others. The late critic James Yood (in whose memory the exhibition was dedicated) was among those who championed this group, which both built on, and sought to break free from, the Imagist legacy through more emotionally immediate and introspective explorations of the human condition that in formal terms were more painterly, compositionally open, and spatially expansive. Curator Lynne Warren describes them as "a rich tradition of image-making" somewhat obscured by the Imagist label, while writer Deven Golden connects them to earlier post-World War II Chicago traditions through a shared emphasis on accessibility, psychology, individuality and intimacy. Bramson has also curated shows at the University of Illinois and the Rockford Art Museum, among others. Awards and collections Bramson has been awarded fellowships and grants from the John S. Guggenheim (1993), Louis Comfort Tiffany (1980) and Rockefeller (1997) foundations, National Endowment for the Arts (1976, 1983, 1993), Fulbright Program (1988), Illinois Arts Council (1981, 1988), and Vermont Studio Center (1996), among many. She has been recognized with the Anonymous Was A Woman Award (2009), the School of Art + Design at University of Illinois at Urbana's Distinguished Alumni Award (2010), and the Distinguished Artist Award from the Union League Club of Chicago (2012). In 2014, she received the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award for her "commitment to the erotic, affirmative representation of female agency and sexuality" in her art. Bramson's art is represented in numerous private collections, including those of the Art Institute of Chicago, Corcoran Museum of Art, Library of Congress, New Museum, Brooklyn Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, National Museum of American Art, Smart Museum of Art, Milwaukee Art Museum, Snite Museum of Art, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Illinois State Museum, Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, and Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as those of more than thirty universities and colleges, and many private organizations, including the JP Morgan Chase Collection. References External links Phyllis Bramson official website. Art Institute of Chicago.