Robert Sterling Neuman (9 September 192620 June 2015) was an American abstract painter, printmaker, and an art teacher.
Biography
Early life
Neuman was born and raised in the small mining town of Kellogg, Idaho, as the only child of Katherine Samuelson and Oscar Neuman. He is of Swedish and German-American descent. Neuman's passion for the arts blossomed early in his childhood. He would often "borrow" drafting and painting materials from his parents' small hardware store to paint the nearby scenic Western vistas. While attending the local high school, Neuman was permitted to take the school's only art course three times at the insistence of his mother.Brown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
Education and career
In 1944, Neuman graduated from high school and briefly enrolled in the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, to study graphic design. In 1945, he was drafted into the army where he served in the Army Air Corps until the end of World War II.Brown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
After Neuman was honorably discharged from the army in 1946, he relocated to Oakland, California to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts under the G.I. Bill.
Neuman described his first encounters with California's art as "…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!".Brown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
In the early 1950s, Neuman received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Applied Art and his Master of Fine Arts at the California College of Arts and Crafts alongside classmates Nathan Oliveira and Peter Voulkos. He also studied painting with American abstract artist James Budd Dixon at the California School of Fine Arts (CSFA, now the San Francisco Art Institute) and with German Expressionist Max Beckmann at Mills College. In 1952, Neuman was awarded the prestigious Bender Grant for his artistic contributions."Robert S. Neuman." Interview by D. Quinn Mills. Dec. 14, 1987
After completing his graduate studies, Neuman held faculty appointments at the California School of Fine Arts and the California College of Arts and Crafts. During this time, he exhibited in juried shows alongside fellow Abstract Expressionists Morris Graves, Robert Motherwell, Willem de Kooning and Sam Francis. In 1953, Neuman was awarded the Fulbright Fellowship and traveled with his wife to Stuttgart, Germany as one of the first artists to visit the country since the end of WWII. In Stuttgart, Neuman studied under the German Expressionist painter Willi Baumeister and began his first major series of paintings, the Black Paintings.Murray, Ann H., ed. Robert S. Neuman Selected Works: 1954- 2007. Norton: Wheaton College, 2007. Print. After he returned to the United States in 1954, Neuman and his wife relocated to the East Coast of the United States where he briefly taught at the New Paltz State Teachers College (now SUNY New Paltz) with colleagues that included Jules Olitski.
In 1956, Neuman was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and traveled to Barcelona, Spain. When asked why he chose to travel to Barcelona he said, "In Barcelona were Miró, Picasso, Julio Gonzales, Gaudi... there must be something in Barcelona!""Robert S. Neuman." Interview by D. Quinn Mills. Dec. 14, 1987. While in Spain, Neuman worked alongside Antoni Tàpies, Joan-Josep Tharrats and Albert Ràfols-Casamada. He reunited with Alberto Burri, whom he had met while traveling in Europe under the Fulbright Fellowship. Burri helped Neuman launch his own show at the Galleria del Cavallino in Venice. This exhibition earned praise from art collector and socialite Peggy Guggenheim. The gallery's owner later offered Neuman a contract to return to Italy, though he declined to avoid uprooting his family.Brown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
When Neuman returned to the United States he embarked upon a teaching career. He taught successively at the Massachusetts College of Art, Brown University in Providence, and for seven years at Harvard University's Carpenter Center, Neuman also chaired the art department at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire from 1972 until his retirement in 1990, when he was awarded professor emeritus.Murray, Ann H., ed. Robert S. Neuman Selected Works: 1954- 2007. Norton: Wheaton College, 2007. Print.
During this time, Neuman became closely associated with numerous East Coast galleries. In 1959, he had major exhibitions in Washington, D.C. at the Gres Gallery and in Purchase, New York, at a private showing sponsored by Allan Stone. He was also associated with Arnold Glimcher's Pace Gallery, where his sold-out show in 1960, as well as his Grand Prize in the 1961 Boston Arts Festival, were important landmarks in his career. During the 1960s and '70s, Neuman exhibited his work at the Ward-Nasse Gallery in Boston, Massachusetts, at the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lexington, Massachusetts, and at the Allan Stone Gallery in New York."Robert S. Neuman | Resume." Robert S. Neuman. Sunne Savage Gallery, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <https://robertsneuman.com/resume>.
Throughout these years, Neuman's Brookline studio was next door to that of his friend and fellow artist Albert Alcalay, who also taught at the Carpenter Center. Beginning in the summer of 1960, Neuman and his family began to summer in Maine. In the mid-1960s, Allan Stone, friend and art dealer, traded paintings with Neuman for a home on Mount Desert Island where Neuman established himself as a central figure in the island's vibrant art scene. Over the course of the next six decades, his paintings were featured in dozens of group and solo exhibitions in nearly every major city on the East Coast, as well as numerous cities abroad. Neuman received critical notices from the likes of Dorothy Adlow, Robert Taylor, John Goodrich, Ken Johnson and Thomas MesserBrown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
Personal life Neuman's first marriage was to Patricia Fedderson in 1947. The couple had two daughters, Elizabeth (b. 1955) and Ingrid (b. 1958), and divorced in the mid-1960s. In 1977, Neuman met gallery director, Mary Susan “Sunne” Savage, and in 1979 they married and welcomed their only child, Christina.Brown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
Neuman died on June 20, 2015, in his sleep at the age of 88. A memorial service was held on what would have been his 89th birthday on Sept 9, 2015 at the Church of the Epiphany, Winchester, MA.
Artistic contribution Neuman's career as an artist spanned over 60 years, with a body of work that was described by author Lisa Chalif as "[defying] traditional expectations of what an artist's canon should look like".Chalif, Lisa, ed. Robert S. Neuman's Ship to Paradise. Huntington: Hecksher Museum of Art, 2012. Print. As an artist, he took "a staunchly individualistic approach to his work by never giving in to fads, the demands of the commercial sector or bowing before the critics".Brochure, Robert S. Neuman: Definition of Place, The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Instead, his body of work is characterized by extended series of paintings that explore a particular motif or symbol and are heavily influenced by events in the artist's own life, in addition to global culture and history.Brown, Robert. "Oral History Interview with Robert S. Neuman, 1991 May 1-June 19." Archives of American Art. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 06 July 2014. <http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-robert-s-neuman-13195>.
Style At the beginning of his artistic career, Neuman's work followed in the vein of traditional Abstract Expressionism. Later on, although Neuman continued to use abstract forms in his work and to define himself as an Expressionist, he focused more on the use of symbols in his work. His unique approach to abstract painting prompted former Boston Globe art critic Robert Taylor, to refer to Neuman's works as "emblematic abstraction”."Robert S. Neuman." Interview by D. Quinn Mills. Dec. 14, 1987.
Neuman's style is additionally distinguished by his bold color palette that is reminiscent of Klee, Miró, Seurat, Kandinsky and early 20th century German Expressionists. These bold washes of color are often juxtaposed with graphical, geometric forms influenced by his love of drawing. Neuman frequently incorporated pencil into his works "to define the edges of otherwise illimitable suffusions of color".Brochure, Robert S. Neuman: Definition of Place, The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Another important technique that Neuman incorporates is the inclusion of stamping and taping off areas to define planes of space. As his career progressed, such use of mixed media techniques and collage became more common.
Series Neuman worked on 16 series of paintings, each representing a response to a different symbol, place or idea in a distinct visual language. His earliest works reflect post-war America and are filled with ominous and dark titles and color palettes. Neuman explored this theme by experimenting with different medium, such as duco paint and sand on Masonite and a new, abstracted subject matter.Murray, Ann H., ed. Robert S. Neuman Selected Works: 1954- 2007. Norton: Wheaton College, 2007. Print. Neuman's first major series was The Black Paintings. This series was catalyzed by his experience studying in a still war- ravaged Germany as a Fulbright Fellow in 1953 under the tutelage of German Expressionist, Willi Baumeister. The Black Paintings’ uncharacteristically dark color palette was influenced by "the reactionary impulses to World War II that had rippled through the art world".Wall text, The Black Paintings, Robert S. Neuman: Definition of Place, The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho, Idaho Falls, Idaho. Today, The Black Paintings serve as a glimpse into the lingering desolation of Germany in the 1950s by one of the few American artists to witness it first-hand.
After The Black Paintings, Neuman began exploring the expressive nature of color. This dramatic shift was influenced by his time studying in Barcelona as a Guggenheim Fellow. His Barcelona Series, begun in 1956, is defined by his attempts to create a universally relevant style of art, which, in this case, captured his impressions of the motion and light of the narrow streets of Old Barcelona.