Artists

Nathan Oliveira

The significance of Nathan Oliveira's paintings has been nationally recognized since the early 1960's when his work appeared in a major exhibition in New York, at MoMA, entitled "Recent Painting U.S.A.: the Figure". He is a member of the well-known Bay Area Figurative group which included - Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff and David Parks. The renowned art historian, Peter Selz, has documented the importance of Nathan Oliveira's contribution in a major new monograph that will be published in March 2002 by the University of California Press. This book also includes an essay by Joann Moser, Senior Curator, at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A major museum retrospective of the artist's work, organized by the San Jose Museum of Art will travel to five other museums in the United States through 2004.

Nathan Oliveira's contribution to American painting has been a single-minded approach "continuing an inner-directed artistic tradition attached to the human subject [which] 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 in contemporary work, is distinct in Oliveira's art."