Robert Allen Nelson (August 1, 1925 – December 2, 2021) was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and went on to become one of the more quietly accomplished figures in American printmaking. He earned both his B.A.E. (1950) and M.A.E. (1951) from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, then built a distinguished academic career that took him across North America — teaching at the Art Institute, the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, and the University of North Dakota before returning to formal study at New York University, where he received his Doctorate in Education in 1971.
His teaching career continued at Cleveland State University (1972–1975), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and finally Millersville University in Pennsylvania, which awarded him the rank of Professor Emeritus in 1997.
Nelson's work entered the permanent collections of major institutions across the country, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the Walker Art Center, the Brooklyn Museum, the Seattle Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the DeCordova Museum, and the Plains Art Museum, among others. He was also included in the American Federation of Arts traveling exhibition 50 Artists: 50 States.
Among his honors, Nelson received the Purchase Prize in the 31st National Exhibition of Boston Printmakers and was awarded the Cézanne Medal by the French government in 1961. He died on December 2, 2021, in Lakeside, Oregon.