The Art of Nathan Oliveira

August 26 – November 30, 2003

Nathan Oliveira’s canvases of well-crafted mystery create work that is at once representational and abstract. A key figure in the first generation after the New York School of abstract expressionism, his gestural paintings, prints, and sculptures reinsert the figure into the evolving and rich tradition of American abstraction. Celebrated nationally, Oliveira has worked for over four decades in the San Francisco Bay Area and is associated with Bay Area figurative painters including Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, and Elmer Bischoff. Tacoma Art Museum hosted this definitive retrospective exhibition, organized by the San Jose Museum of Art. Oliveira’s first widespread recognition came with his inclusion in the 1959 Museum of Modern Art exhibition New Images of Man. He went on to create a large body of work and for 30 years taught art at Stanford University. The exhibition featured some 60 paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture created over the artist’s distinguished career.