Roy Newell was a pioneering American abstract artist known for his geometric paintings that were characterised by subtle juxtapositions, coarse textures, and striking colour harmonies. Though he remained relatively undiscovered in his lifetime, Newell was well-regarded among artists of his generation, and was a member of the Abstract Expressionists.
Read MoreBorn in Manhattan, Newell was largely a self-taught artist. He was an original member of the 8th Street artist club (known as 'The Club'), a group of prominent New York artists that included Willem de Kooning, Isamu Noguchi, and Jackson Pollock.
Newell produced less than 100 paintings over his lifetime. His process demanded years, even decades, as he continuously re-worked and refined his compositions until many were up to an inch thick upon completion with a combined depth of wood support and concentrated, dense buildup of paint. Newell's box-like panels bear witness to thousands of hours of work, heightened by their typically intimate scale.
Newell's paintings through the 1940s and 1950s focused on gestural abstraction, though he destroyed many of his works from this period before embarking on a new direction defined by small-scale geometric subjects which he would explore for the remainder of his career.
Newell's painting Old Man Dancing II (1979-1998) was created over a 20-year period. An irregular geometric composition rendered predominantly in mustard yellows, greens, and purples, the pictorial space is expanded further by painting over and around the narrow frame, a technique commonly observed throughout Newell's works. Short, expressive brushstrokes are contrasted against a grid-like matrix that echoes the hard-edged abstraction of Piet Mondrian or Josef Albers, to reveal a remarkable consistency of vision and an obsessive pursuit of perfection.
Newell's work has been the subject of solo exhibition and group exhibitions worldwide.
Select solo exhibitions include Roy Newell, Simon Lee Gallery, New York (2018); Roy Newell: The Private Myth, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York (2010); and Lifelines: 1955-1995, Woodward Gallery, New York (1996).
Select group exhibitions include Line, Shape, Color, and Form, Hollis Taggart Southport, Connecticut (2021); and Color, Shape & Form: 1960-2008, W. Alexander, Brooklyn, New York (2018).
Newell's artworks are held in notable public and private collections, such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the New York University Art Collection, the Willem de Kooning Estate, and the Pollock-Krasner House, among others.
Fay Janet Jackson | Ocula | 2022
![Untitled [double-sided] by Roy Newell contemporary artwork painting, works on paper](https://files.ocula.com/anzax/a9/a9bafeaa-d3fb-4260-9be7-f0b5533091d3_600_404.jpg)
