Neith Nevelson
Encyclopedia
Neith Nevelson, is an artist
best known for painting
s of horses, female nudes, and male
face
s.
Nevelson grew up in Florence
, Italy
, and began painting at the age of two. She spent her childhood in Florence and New York City, and as a teenager moved to New York, to live at her grandmother's studio.
She has lived in Coconut Grove in Southern Florida, since 1977.
Nevelson studied briefly at the Accademia di Belle Arti, in Florence, Italy. As a student she concentrated on subjects she eventually became known for rather than the standard curriculum of still life drawings and landscapes, and was eventually expelled. Her first exhibition was in 1974 at the Galleria Nuova in Florence. Her last was in 1994; the catalog and exhibition were entitled, "Neith Nevelson: In the Middle of the Night", by Wendy Blazier. She was influenced by Cubism
, Surrealism
, and Expressionism
. Some art-critics have labeled Nevelson as “Outsider
” artist.
Nevelson's early work, which she has continued to experiment and embellish on to the present day, take the form of line drawing
s. Her style developed into complex paintings based on the gestural fluidity of drawing, underscored by her larger art-works which tend to combine elements of all her three major themes. As described in "Neith Nevelson: In the Middle of the Night," Neith's paintings are visions from her imagination
, and explore the figurative
, symbol
ic and narrative
. As described by the Miami Herald's lackluster review of the same 1994 exhibition, the form of her art reflects the conflicts and contradictions of her life, living in the world of her famous grandmother and the New York art world of the 1960s, hardship and isolation from family, and remembering and longing for childhood.
She is illustrating a forthcoming book of poems, "Day's Night" by Jorge Reyes
.
Outside of her artistic endeavors, Nevelson is notable for political involvement in the area of abortion advocacy, for which she was jailed in Florence Italy in 1977 along with a group of advocates from the Radical Party.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
best known for painting
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
s of horses, female nudes, and male
Male
Male refers to the biological sex of an organism, or part of an organism, which produces small mobile gametes, called spermatozoa. Each spermatozoon can fuse with a larger female gamete or ovum, in the process of fertilization...
face
Face
The face is a central sense organ complex, for those animals that have one, normally on the ventral surface of the head, and can, depending on the definition in the human case, include the hair, forehead, eyebrow, eyelashes, eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, mouth, lips, philtrum, temple, teeth, skin, and...
s.
Background
Nevelson's grandmother was the 20th century sculptor Louise Nevelson, her father, Mike Nevelson, was a sculptor and her mother, Susan Nevelson, is an artist and textile designer.Nevelson grew up in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, and began painting at the age of two. She spent her childhood in Florence and New York City, and as a teenager moved to New York, to live at her grandmother's studio.
She has lived in Coconut Grove in Southern Florida, since 1977.
Cubism
Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...
, Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, and Expressionism
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
. Some art-critics have labeled Nevelson as “Outsider
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
” artist.
Nevelson's early work, which she has continued to experiment and embellish on to the present day, take the form of line drawing
Line art
Line art is any image that consists of distinct straight and curved lines placed against a background, without gradations in shade or hue to represent two-dimensional or three-dimensional objects...
s. Her style developed into complex paintings based on the gestural fluidity of drawing, underscored by her larger art-works which tend to combine elements of all her three major themes. As described in "Neith Nevelson: In the Middle of the Night," Neith's paintings are visions from her imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
, and explore the figurative
Figurative art
Figurative art, sometimes written as figurativism, describes artwork—particularly paintings and sculptures—which are clearly derived from real object sources, and are therefore by definition representational.-Definition:...
, symbol
Symbol
A symbol is something which represents an idea, a physical entity or a process but is distinct from it. The purpose of a symbol is to communicate meaning. For example, a red octagon may be a symbol for "STOP". On a map, a picture of a tent might represent a campsite. Numerals are symbols for...
ic and narrative
Narrative
A narrative is a constructive format that describes a sequence of non-fictional or fictional events. The word derives from the Latin verb narrare, "to recount", and is related to the adjective gnarus, "knowing" or "skilled"...
. As described by the Miami Herald's lackluster review of the same 1994 exhibition, the form of her art reflects the conflicts and contradictions of her life, living in the world of her famous grandmother and the New York art world of the 1960s, hardship and isolation from family, and remembering and longing for childhood.
She is illustrating a forthcoming book of poems, "Day's Night" by Jorge Reyes
Jorge Reyes
Jorge Reyes is a Cuban-born, American author known for authoring books in several genres. He is an honor graduate of Barry University, from which he received a B.A...
.
Outside of her artistic endeavors, Nevelson is notable for political involvement in the area of abortion advocacy, for which she was jailed in Florence Italy in 1977 along with a group of advocates from the Radical Party.