Jim Dine (b. 1935-) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio.  His artistic skills were quickly recognized while still in high school, at which time he began his painting studies at the Cincinnati Art Academy.  Dine then attended the University of Cincinnati, studied at the Boston School of Fine and Applied Arts and the University of Ohio, where re received his BFA degree.

Jim Dine is one of the most well known artists in the post-World War II world of art.  His work has been characterized as art of "American Darkness" comparable with that of Jasper Johns.  His work with iconic hearts, robes, tools and Venus's have become widely familiar.  He was early on associated with the 'Pop Art' movement, but decisively forged his own direction with a unique range of styles.  Dine's movement away from the 1950s and '60s abstract art to the primacy of subject matter, however, is important in that it defined his intent to occupy himself with the human condition as the principal subject of his work, whether that be irony, satire, sentiment or melancholy.  'Dine presents the observer with images, themes and symbols derived from classical art, antiquity and literature that communicate his messages or mortality and humanity'.  Above all, Jim Dine's art requires emotional engagement on the part of the viewer.