Nathan Oliveira
Encyclopedia
Nathan Oliveira was an American painter
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...

, printmaker, and sculptor, born in Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...

 to Portuguese parents. From the late 1950s on Oliveira has been the subject of nearly one hundred solo exhibitions in addition to having been included hundreds of group exhibitions, in important museums and galleries worldwide, including several Whitney Museum of American Art
Whitney Museum of American Art
The Whitney Museum of American Art, often referred to simply as "the Whitney", is an art museum with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century American art. Located at 945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street in New York City, the Whitney's permanent collection contains more than 18,000 works in a wide variety of...

 Annual Exhibitions. He taught painting for several decades in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 commencing in the early 1950s when he taught in Oakland and then henceforth at Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. Oliveira is considered to be one of the pioneers of the return to the figuration in American painting that originated in the California Bay Area in the 1950s. Along with various colleagues, Oliviera responded to Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism
Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...

 in the mid-1950s by returning to imagery.

Career

Oliveira graduated from San Francisco's George Washington High School
George Washington High School (San Francisco)
George Washington High School is a public high school in Richmond District, San Francisco, California. The school is a part of the San Francisco Unified School District...

. He attended college in Oakland; first at Mills College
Mills College
Mills College is an independent liberal arts women's college founded in 1852 that offers bachelor's degrees to women and graduate degrees and certificates to women and men. Located in Oakland, California, Mills was the first women's college west of the Rockies. The institution was initially founded...

, where he attended a class taught by Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann
Max Beckmann was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement...

, and later at California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts
California College of the Arts , founded in 1907, is known for its broad, interdisciplinary programs in art, design, architecture, and writing. It has two campuses, one in Oakland and one in San Francisco, California, USA...

, where he received a BFA in 1951 and an MFA in 1952. Oliveira taught art at several colleges, including the California College of the Arts and Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

.
  • 1952-53 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
  • 1955-56 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
  • 1964-96 Professor of Studio Arts, Stanford University, CA

Awards

  • 2000 Distinguished Degree of "Commander" in "The Order of the Infante D. Henrique" awarded by the President of Portugal and the Portuguese government.
  • 1997 University California Press, Berkeley to publish a major monograph on the life and work of Nathan Oliveira. Susan Landauer, Author. Work to begin in 1998.
  • 1996 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Honoris Causa, San Francisco Art Institute
    San Francisco Art Institute
    San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...

    , San Francisco, CA
  • California Society of Printmakers
    California Society of Printmakers
    California Society of Printmakers is the oldest continuously operating association of printmakers and friends of printmakers in the United States. CSP is a non-profit arts organization with an international membership of print artists and supporters of the art of fine printmaking...

     Honors Nathan Oliveira for Distinguished Artistic Achievement
  • 1994 Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    American Academy of Arts and Sciences
    The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...

    , Cambridge
  • Elected Academy Membership (Fellow), American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
  • 1992 Ann O'Day Maples Professor in the Arts Emeritus, Stanford University, CA
  • 1988 Ann O'Day Maples Professor in the Arts, Endowed Chair, Stanford University, CA
  • 1985 Academician, Graphic Arts, National Academy of Design
    National Academy of Design
    The National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, founded in New York City as the National Academy of Design – known simply as the "National Academy" – is an honorary association of American artists founded in 1825 by Samuel F. B. Morse, Asher B. Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E...

    , New York, NY
  • 1984 Academy Institute Award in Art, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, New York, NY
  • 1982 Elected Associate Member, National Academy of Design, New York, NY
  • 1974 National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant
  • 1968 Doctor of Fine Arts Degree, Honoris Causa, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
  • 1964 Tamarind Lithography Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1963 Arte Actual de America y Espana Special Prize, Madrid, Spain Tamarind Lithography Fellowship, Los Angeles, CA
  • 1959 Norman Wait Harris Bronze Medal, The Art Institute of Chicago
    Art Institute of Chicago
    The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

    , Chicago, IL
  • 1958 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship
    Guggenheim Fellowship
    Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...

  • 1957 Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant

Artistic association

He was a member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement: a group of San Francisco Bay Area artists in the 1950s and 1960s who sought a return to figurative painting as a reaction to non-objective abstract painting. Other Bay Area Figurative School artists include Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn
Richard Diebenkorn was a well-known 20th century American painter. His early work is associated with Abstract expressionism and the Bay Area Figurative Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. His later work were instrumental to his achievement of worldwide acclaim.-Biography:Richard Clifford Diebenkorn Jr...

, David Park, Elmer Bischoff
Elmer Bischoff
Elmer Nelson Bischoff was a visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area.Bischoff, along with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, was part of the post-World War II generation of artists who started as abstract painters and found their way back to figurative art.-Biography:Elmer Bischoff, second...

, and later, Joan Brown
Joan Brown
Joan Brown was an American figurative painter who lived and worked in Northern California. She was a notable member of the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement....

, and Manuel Neri
Manuel Neri
Manuel Neri is an American sculptor, painter, and printmaker and a notable member of the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.- Biography :...

. Oliveira is also known as an outstanding printmaker who has executed many unique works in the monotype medium. He has exhibited his paintings in museums and galleries throughout the world.

Recent work

Oliveira was most recently at work on a series of paintings inspired the by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...

 poem "The Windhover," a work which he had hoped would be permanently housed at a contemplative center planned for Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

 and may still be.

Nathan was one of four artist in the "Ashes to Life - A Portuguese American Story in Art", which was published in English and Portuguese for the exhibit of the same name with artists Mel Ramos, Joao de Brito and John Matos in 2008.

External links

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