Overview
"Nathan Oliveira's passion for continuing an inner-directed artistic tradition attached to the human subject has persisted throughout his more than forty years as a painter and master printmaker. His art represents an ongoing dialogue with artists from Rembrandt to Goya to Munch, Beckmann, Giacometti, and de Kooning - whom he recognizes for their insights into the human condition. The human touch, so often absent from contemporary work, is distinct in the mark of Oliveira's brush, the tactile quality of his paint, and the unique printed surfaces of his monotypes. Active in the San Francisco Bay Area, Oliveira is widely regarded as a key figure in American art, and his paintings, monoprints, drawings, watercolors, and sculpture have attracted an international audience. This book is the most comprehensive study to date of Oliveira's career as artist and teacher. Generously illustrated with 183 images, more than 100 in color, and including valuable, previously unpublished biographical and bibliographical information, Nathan Oliveira will accompany the major traveling exhibition of the same name." Peter Selz's authoritative text weaves key moments in Oliveira's professional life together with compelling readings of the paintings themselves. Selz, who curated the exhibition, succeeds brilliantly in establishing a sense of where Oliveira came from, what inspired him, and how he thought of himself as an artist. He discusses Oliveira's beginnings as the son of Portuguese immigrants, his early exposure to Bay Area artists, and the formative experience of studying with Max Beckmann. Selz also traces the artist's affinity to his older European contemporaries, his search for an expressive relationship between form and space that found resonance in presentation of the single figure, and the exhibitions and collaborations that shaped his career.Synopsis
"Nathan Oliveira casts a serious eye and gives a balanced account both of the California milieu in which Oliveira was formed and the artist himself. It is an authentic contribution to art history and a much-needed exploration of the rich culture of California art."—Dore Ashton, Professor of Art History, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
"Peter Selz and Joann Moser have produced an important study of the career and work of Oliveira, a stubbornly individual artist who, heedless of the clamor of the ideologies and the lure of the market, has resolutely gone his own way, these past fifty years, as painter, printmaker, and sculptor."—Lorenz Eitner, Osgood Hooker Professor of Fine Arts, Emeritus, Stanford University
"Peter Selz, the expert art historian, has written a well-researched and passionate study of the painter and printmaker Nathan Oliveira. This fine book, illustrated by more than 200 examples of the artist's innovative work, confirms Oliveira's place in the front rank of American artists."—James Schevill, Poet and author of The American Fantasies
"Nathan Oliveira is one of the leading figures of his generation as a painter, printmaker, and re-discoverer of monotype, and a comprehensive gathering and discussion of his work has been needed for some time. Peter Selz has brought forth just the book that was needed—touching on formative influences, friendships and teaching stints, throughout his career, and the parallel surges and fallow periods in all media of his work. The remarkable momentum of the artist's career in printmaking and monotype is also traced separately by Joann Moser."—Gerald Nordland, author of Richard Diebenkorn
Library Journal
Nathan Oliveira's hauntingly sensual and intuitive strokes combine with a bold palette to produce work around themes of death, struggle, and isolation. Primarily figurative, his paintings also include still lifes and landscapes. Acting as a complement to a major traveling exhibition originating at the San Jose Museum of Art this spring, this publication seeks to restore Oliveira to his rightful place as an international artist, extricating him from being lumped with other Bay Area figurative painters. This comprehensive work focuses on Oliveira's career as an artist and as professor emeritus at Stanford University and includes previously unpublished biographical and bibliographical information, though it is not a full biography. Selz (founding director, Berkeley Art Museum) firmly places Oliveira within the context of the cultural fabric of the 1950s, when the painter began his career, and reveals his various influences. Smithsonian curator Joann Moser contributes a superb essay on Oliveira's printmaking and drawing. A chronology, bibliography, and list of Oliveira's solo exhibitions make this the definitive monograph to date. Highly recommended for academic libraries with collections on Bay Area artists, figurative painting, or modern artists. Rebecca Tolley-Stokes, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson City Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.