TEL: 415.441.8680
Untitled (Two Women), c.1960, collage and ink on paper, 30 1/2” x 25”
Manuel Neri (born April 12, 1930) is an American sculptor, painter, and printmaker and a notable member of the "second generation" of the Bay Area Figurative Movement.
Neri was born in Sanger, California, to immigrant parents who had fled Mexico during political unrest following the Mexican Revolution. He began attending college at San Francisco City College in 1950, initially studying to be an electrical engineer. After taking a class in ceramics, he was inspired to become an artist. He continued his education at California College of Arts and Crafts and at California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Neri studied under Richard Diebenkorn and Elmer Bischoff, taking up abstract expressionism under their influence, but later turning toward figurative art along with them.
In the late 1950s, he was a member of the artist-run cooperative gallery, the Six Gallery, along with Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, and Jay DeFeo. In 1959, Neri became an original member of Bruce Conner's Rat Bastard Protective Association.
Neri taught sculpture and ceramics at California School of Fine Arts from 1959–1965 and was on the faculty of the University of California, Davis from 1965-1999.
In 2006, Neri was a recipient of the International Sculpture Center's Lifetime Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.
Although Neri's work includes many paintings, drawings, and prints, his primary medium is sculpture, typically using plaster, but sometimes marble or bronze. He is noted for his life-size sculptures, which though clearly figurative in nature, are abstracted figures rather than realist representations. His sculptures often emphasize surface texture, and the surfaces of his sculptures are often, sanded, chipped, or painted to emphasize textures. His approach to sculpture is often described as "painterly," and his approach to drawing and painting is correspondingly described as "sculptural".
The following are among the public art collections holding works by Manuel Neri: Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, D. C.), the Denver Art Museum, the El Paso Museum of Art (El Paso, Texas), Grounds for Sculpture (Hamilton, New Jersey), the Honolulu Museum of Art, Laumier Sculpture Park and Museum (St. Louis, Missouri), the Neuberger Museum of Art (State University of New York, Purchase, New York), the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art (Utah State University, Logan, Utah), the Oakland Museum of California (Oakland, California), the Palm Springs Desert Museum (Palm Springs, California), the San Diego Museum of Art (San Diego, California), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, diRosa (Napa, California) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York City). Portland Art Museum (Portland, Oregon).
BORN 1930 Sanger, CA
EDUCATION
1956–58 California School of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA
1951–56 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1951–52 University of California, Berkeley, CA
1949–50 San Francisco City College, San Francisco, CA
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008 The Figure in Relief, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
2007 Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY
Riva Yares Gallery, Santa Fe, NM and, Scottsdale, AZ (also ‘05, ‘98, ‘95, ‘93, ‘89)
Portland Art Museum, Portland, ME
Hackett-Freedman Gallery, San Francisco, CA (also ‘05, ‘04, ‘03, ‘01)
2006 Manuel Neri, Ameringer & Yohe Fine Art, New York, NY
Manuel Neri: Figure in Relief, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
2005 University Museums, Iowa State University, Ames, IA
Manuel Neri, Palpable Tensions, Fresno Art Museum, Fresno, CA
Artists’ Books/The Collaborative Process, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,
San Francisco, CA
2004 Collaboration and the Creative Process: Artists' Books by Manuel Neri and Mary Julia
Klimenko, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA
2002 Charles Cowles Gallery, New York, NY (also ‘00, ‘98, ‘97, ‘95, ‘93, ‘91, ‘89, ‘86, ‘82, ‘81)
Japonais: Sculpture & Paintings on Paper, B. Sakata Garo, Sacramento, CA
Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, LA (also ‘99, ‘97, ‘95)
2000 Anne Reed Gallery, Ketchum, ID (also ‘97)
Campbell-Thiebaud Gallery, San Francisco, CA (also ‘99, ‘97, ‘95, ‘93)
1999 Stremmel Gallery, Reno, NV
1998 Robert Mondavi Winery, Oakville, CA
Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs, CA
97-98 Early Work, 1953–1978, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA
1997 Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA
San Marco Art Gallery, Dominican College, San Rafael, CA (also ‘90)
Recent Marble Sculpture, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
Galerie Claude Samuel, Paris, France
96–99 A Sculptor’s Drawings, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC;
Laumeier Sculpture Park, St. Louis, MO; Academy of Art College,
San Francisco, CA; Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, Lincoln, NE;
The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY
1996 Lisa Kurts Gallery, Memphis, TN
1995 Manuel Neri: Classical Expressions, Nevada Institute for Contemporary Art, Las Vegas, NV
Robischon Gallery, Denver, CO
1994 Morgan Gallery, Kansas City, MO (also ‘92)
Master Artist Tribute III, Hearst Art Gallery, St. Mary's College, Moraga, CA
Margulies/Taplin Gallery, Boca Raton, FL (also ‘92, ‘90)
1993 Manuel Neri: Painted and Unpainted, Dia Center for the Arts, Bridgehampton, NY
Drawings and Sculpture, University of Alabama Art Gallery, Tuscaloosa, AL
Bingham Kurts Gallery, Memphis, TN (also ‘90)
1992 She Said: 'I Tell You It Doesn't Hurt Me', Fresno Art Center, Fresno, CA
(also ‘92, ‘90, ‘88, ‘84, ‘81)
John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA (also ‘90, ‘88, ‘84, ‘81)
1991 Manuel Neri: Drawings, Part I, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA
Eve Mannes Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1990 Manuel Neri: Bronzes, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA
1989 Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery, University of Nevada, Reno, NV
Manuel Neri: Plaster, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Manuel Neri: Sculpture and Drawings, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, WA
1988 Manuel Neri, A Personal Selection, Wiegand Gallery, College of Notre Dame, Belmont, CA
James Corcoran Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
1987 Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
San Antonio Art Institute, San Antonio, TX
1985 Manuel Neri: Sculpture and Drawings, Robert Else Gallery, California State University,
Sacramento, CA
1984 Middendorf Gallery, Washington, DC
California State University Art Gallery, Chico, CA
Gimpel-Hanover & Andre Emmerich Galerien, Zurich, Switzerland
1983 Manuel Neri, Sculpture and Drawings, Middendorf/Lane Gallery, Washington, DC
1981 Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA
Manuel Neri: Sculpture/Drawings, The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA
Manuel Neri: Drawings and Bronzes, The Art Museum Association, (traveled through ‘83)
1980 Manuel Neri: Sculpture and Drawings, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Manuel Neri: Drawings, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Grossmont College Gallery, El Cajon, CA
1979 Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA
1977 Manuel Neri: Recent Sculpture and Drawings, ArtSpace/Open Ring, E. B.
Crocker Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
1976 Neri Sculpture, Braunstein/Quay Gallery, New York, NY
The Remaking of Mary Julia: Sculpture in Progress, 80 Langton Street, San Francisco, CA
Manuel Neri, Sculptor, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
1975 Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA (also ‘71,‘68, ‘66)
1974 Art Gallery, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
Manuel Neri: Sculpture and Installations, Davis Art Gallery, Stephens College, Columbia, MO
1972 Sacramento State College Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA
Davis Art Center, Davis, CA
1971 University of Nevada Art Gallery, Reno, NV
1970 St. Mary's College, Moraga, CA
San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1969 Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
1964 Berkeley Gallery, Berkeley, CA
1963 New Mission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1960 Dilexi Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1959 Spatsa Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1957 The Six Gallery, San Francisco, CA
AWARDS AND HONORS
2008 Bay Area Treasure Award, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
2006 Lifetime Achievement Award in Contemporary Sculpture, International
Sculpture Center (ISC)
1995 Honorary Doctorate, Corcoran School of Art
1992 Honorary Doctorate, California College of Arts and Crafts
1990 Honorary Doctorate, San Francisco Art Institute
1985 Award of Honor for Outstanding Achievement in Sculpture, San Francisco Arts Commission
1982 Academy Institute Award in Art, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters
1980 Individual Artist Grant, National Endowment for the Arts
1979 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
70–75 Sculpture Grant, University of California at Davis
1965 National Art Foundation Award
1963 82nd Annual Sculpture Award, San Francisco Art Institute
1959 Nealie Sullivan Award, California School of Fine Arts
1957 Purchase Award in Painting, Oakland Art Museum
1953 First Award in Sculpture, Oakland Art Museum
PARTNERS COLLECTION
MANUEL NERI
SCROLL DOWN
FOR ARTIST BIO
Contents Copyright © 2003-2013