Joseph Morton “Mort” Luby

Joseph Morton (Mort) Luby is a painter who has resided in Carpentersville, Illinois for decades and lives in Haiku, Hawaii several months each year. He was born on July 14, 1931, on the south side of  Chicago, IL. Luby discovered his love of art at an early age and took classes during high school. He studied art at the University of Wisconsin, as well as the University of Notre Dame, where he graduated with a journalism degree in 1953.

Luby began his full-time art career over 20 years ago after retiring as CEO of Luby Publishing, a 103-year-old publisher of sports magazines started by his grandfather David Luby and headquartered in downtown Chicago. He was also a stringer for Associated Press for more than 40 years. During those years at Luby Publishing, he traveled to 70 countries covering bowling and billiard tournaments and would  take painting workshops when he could fit them into his busy schedule.  He cites the Sorolla Museum, the mansion-studio of Spanish Impressionist painter Joaquin y Sorolla Bastida in Madrid as one of his favorites.

He was close to retirement when he discovered a Palette and Chisel Academy of Fine Arts (P&C) class by master painter Romel de la Torre and began creating an amazing array of images from the streets of Chicago. From these, a coffee table book entitled Chicago Brushstrokes was published in 2012, featuring one hundred paintings he believes represent a true cross-section of the Windy City.  In the final section of the book, he features paintings from the Chicagoland area, including Cantigny, Riverside, Long Grove, the Methodist Campground, Ravinia and the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.

Luby is also a member of the Plein Air Painters of Chicago (PAPC). “Plein air” painting is done on-site, outdoors in one session. “We receive an email on Thursday with the designated location, gather on Saturday morning and after three hours or so of maniacal creative effort, we line up our canvases against a fence or building and a very serious discussion ensues.”  The PAPC presents members’ exhibits annually.   He has also taken classes at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Scottsdale Artists School and many other leading art institutions.

Luby cites watercolorist Bridget Austin and oil painter Zhiwei Tu as inspirations. Austin taught him the technical secrets of watercolor painting, which can be viewed annually in a calendar Luby creates for Norton’s, USA featuring (12) twelve Barrington, Illinois landmarks.  Luby takes classes from Zhiwei Tu whenever he can and sets up his easel behind the artist so he can observe every brush stroke. Other Luby artistic influences include Clyde Aspevig, Phil Kantz, Charles Movalli, David Demers, Kim English and Matt Smith.

For four (4) months of the year, Luby paints in Haiku, Maui.  He spends several hours each day in his studio there painting watercolors and oils. He is a member of the Plein Air Painters of Maui and is a featured artist in galleries operated by the Maui Hands Company, where over 40 of his paintings are sold each year.

Luby’s paintings have been displayed in dozens of galleries, civic buildings, corporate offices, libraries, hospitals and private collections around the world. Locally his works have been shown at LaCitadelle Gallery in Barrington, the Ontarioville Gallery in Hanover Park, Savour in Algonquin, and several galleries in Long Grove, Highland Park and more.  

Mort Luby has won more than 50 awards in national, regional, and local art competitions, including seven (7) best-of-show citations. He has twice won first place in Barrington’s “Art in Nature” show at Crabtree Forest Preserve.