Description

We are really excited about this one. It is called Pedazos del Mundo (Pieces of the World). It was created during the period when Neuman was exploring "the circle" and also delving into the area of collage.  Could the large circle here represent Earth?

Details

• Robert S. Neuman (American, 1926-2015)
• Pedazos del Mundo (1962)
• Watercolor, found objects on board
  
• Signed and dated upper left
  
• 26 3/4" x 30 3/4" (overall) 21 1/2" x 25 1/2" (sight)
• Newly framed around original linen mat
  

About the Artist

Robert Sterling Neuman’s talent was first noticed by his mother, who encouraged his high school in the mining town of Kellogg, Idaho to allow her son to take the school’s only art course three times.  From there Neuman enrolled briefly in the graphic design program at the University of Idaho until he began his service in the Army Air Corps during World War II. After the war, his artistic journey began in earnest.  Under the GI Bill he studied at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA.  He later recalled his eye-opening experience in the California art scene: "…coming from the state of Idaho to San Francisco and… seeing Clyfford Still for the first time [and] Diebenkorn, all hanging there, was quite a shock. Here I'd been painting views of Coeur d'Alene Lake with the mountains!”

Neuman went on to earn his BFA and MFA at the California College of Arts and Crafts alongside classmates Nathan Oliveira and Peter Voulkos.  In 1952 he was awarded the prestigious Bender Grant followed by travel to Germany in 1953 on a Fulbright Scholarship. In Stuttgart he studied under the German Expressionist painter Willi Baumeister and began his first major series of painting, the Black Paintings. One of the few artists to travel to war torn Germany, the Black Paintings offer Neuman’s glimpse into the lingering desolation of Germany in the 1950s.

Upon his return to the United States in 1954 Neuman relocated to the East Coast where he began a long and illustrious teaching career at Massachusetts College of Art, Brown University, Harvard University’s Carpenter Center, and Keene State College in New Hampshire.  Despite the demands of teaching, Neuman continued to create and exhibit, including a 1956 Guggenheim Fellowship stint in Spain followed by an acclaimed show in Venice; a major exhibition in Washington, D.C. at the Gres Gallery; a sold-out show at the Pace Gallery in 1960; and a Grand Prize award at the Boston Arts Festival in 1961. Neuman also enjoyed a lifelong professional relationship with the noted art dealer Allan Stone, who traded a home on Mount Desert Island for Neuman’s paintings.

Neuman’s artistic career spanned over sixty years in which he defied conventional expectations and instead adhered to a staunch individualism. In the beginning, Neuman's work followed in the typical vein of abstract expressionism. But later on Neuman focused more on the extended exploration of a particular motif or symbol or the effect of personal events, global culture or history on his artistic sensibility. His unique approach to abstract painting prompted former Boston Globe art critic Robert Taylor, to refer to Neuman's works as "emblematic abstraction”.  Neuman's style is additionally distinguished by his uncompromisingly bold color palette that is reminiscent of Paul Klee, Joan Miró, and Wassily Kandinsky. Bold washes of color are often juxtaposed with graphical, geometric forms influenced by Neuman’s love of drawing. Neuman also incorporated stamping and taping off of areas to define planes of space. As his career progressed, such use of mixed media techniques and collage became more common.

Neuman’s work is in major public and private collections in the United States and abroad.  He passed away in 2015.