Glossary
Terms for:  'N'

Artists (350k+)   Art for Sale (10k+)   Auctions
Upcoming Lots Galleries Auction Houses
Pricing Art Museums Art Topics


Copyright © 1999-2024 askART.com and underlying auction houses. All Rights Reserved. Digital copying of these images and content strictly prohibited; violators will be subject to the law including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Clear
Term Definition
Nabis A group of young Parisian artists who exhibited together from 1891 to 1899, they took their name from the Hebrew word for "prophets". Leaders were Paul Serusier, Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Paul Ranson and Maurice Denis, and leading influence was Paul Gauguin. Underlying doctrine was distortions of colour, composition and subjects so that these elements reflected artists' own perceptions and not necessarily reality. Applied to both easel painting and the decorative arts, Nabis artwork was a precursor to "art nouveau". The last Nabis exhibition was in 1899 at Durand-Ruel Gallery. Source: "Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art"
Nagybanya Artist's Colony An art colony in eastern Hungary, it had the name of Baia Mare in Romania after World War I. The colony started as a summer retreat for artists, mainly painters from Simon Hollosy's Free School in Munich. The original group focused on plein-air painting; the Colony represents the most imporant movement in the artlistic life in Hungary at the beginning of the 20th Century. Source: Wikipedia
Naive Art The result of artists' simplified approached to creativity and often work of artists lacking formal training, it is the rendering of literal images. Naive artists are usually zealous in their commitment to making art because it comes from their inner beings. The artwork of many of them may appear childlike but often is consistent in quality and has elements borrowed from art history. Media is wide-ranging from standard painting and sculpture to mixed media. In contrast to Naive Art, Folk Art, reflects a specific culture and not the artist's mental processes. A common mistake is to group Naive and Folk Art together. Naive Style tends to have bright colors, much detailing and little perspective or depth. In sculpture, quite often found objects are utilized. Some modernist artists with much interest in primitivism affect the naive style. However true Naive Art is nearly synonymous with Outsider Art and "is the product of an individual psyche rather than communal history". But Outsider Art has a slightly more narrow connotation because it is the artwork of people outside the mainstream of society such as people in mental institutions and prisons. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak".
Nakhoni Script Also known as 'fingernail script', it is an Iranian invention, and resulted from artists searching for new methods for innovations. It is a method whereby the artist embosses and makes writing or images such as flowers, birds and landscapes apparent only through a slight pressure of the fingernails on the back of a delicate piece of paper. In Iran, Alireza Astaneh practices Nakhoni Script. Source: AskART biography of Nakhoni Script.
Nancy Daum See Daum Glassworks
Nanga School The term Nanga, which means “Southern painting” (in reference to Chinese Southern school painting), refers to a Japanese literati painting style, also called Bunjinga. It flourished from the early 1700s to the early 1900s. It was inspired by the Chinese scholar-painting tradition, intended for a small intellectual, non commercial audience. Nanga School works are generally characterized by the combination of painting, poetry, and calligraphy, with a preference for subtle brushwork, monochromatic or subdued coloring, and the abstraction of natural forms. The subjects are frequently landscapes, birds and flowers. Nanga School artists include Tessai Tomioka, Ike No Taiga, Yosa Buson, Hanabusa Itcho, Kazan Watanabe, Yamamoto Baiitsu, Nakabayashi Chikuto, and Marjorie Pigott. Sources: The Getty Research Institute Art & Architecture Thesaurus and the Kyoto National Museum website. Prepared and submitted to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.
Nanyang School A style of art, it was largely concerned with the integration of traditional Chinese art forms with modern developments in Western art, depicting the vivid context of Southeast Asia as their main subject matter. Nanyang style paintings are characterized by rural scenes, migrant culture, simple color schemes, and a mixture of Southeast Asian themes and Western compositional techniques. Most Nanyang works are Chinese ink and color or oil on canvas. Source: AskART biographies of Soo Peing Cheong
Narrative Art Art which tells a story, it usually is self-explanatory, being from either recognizable daily-life scenes or from familiar folk stories. It was prevalent during the Renaissance with familiarstories from the Bible or the Classics. In the 19th Century, genre scenes became popular in America and often told a story such as a soldier leaving for war, etc. Modernist artists up to the 1960s avoided Narrative Art because they were more interested in abstraction or works with themes less easy to read. However, movements of the second half of the 20th Century such as Pop Art, Figurative, Calligraphic and Performance Art have reintroduced Narrative Art. Modern Narrative artists include Jerome Witkin, Roy Kerswill, and Faith Ringgold, who inscribes messages on her painted quilts. Among 19th-Century narrative artists are John Quidor, James Hamilton, Edward Moran, John Chapman and Otis Bass. Sources: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; AskART Database
National Aboriginal Acheievement Awards See Indspire Awards
National Academy of Design Founded in New York City in 1825 as an art school, museum and association of professional artists to maintain high, academic standards, it was the most important art institution in America in the 19th Century. Setting the standard nationally for art excellence, its existence was key to making New York an early center of the American art world. Only male artists were allowed membership until 1831 when women were admitted. Samuel F.B. Morse was the first president, and the three original members were Morse, Asher Durand and William Dunlap. In turn, they invited other artist members. Listings in NAD annual spring exhibitions for many years brought prestige and important, career-building credentials to member artists, and provided viewers with leading edge artwork. However, rebellions against academic strictures of NAD began in the 1870s with the introduction of European modernism, and continued into the 20th century with Robert Henri’s Social Realism and the ‘shocking’ abstract art of the 1912 Armory Show. Today, the National Academy of Design offers education and exhibitions, but its value is described as being more historic than contemporary. Sources: Matthew Baigell, “Dictionary of American Art”, Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr., “The Britannica Encyclopedia of American Art”.
National Academy of Western Artists A group affiliated with the The National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, their goal is promotion by exhibition of Western Art. Academy exhibitions are titled Prix de West, and the museum name has changed to The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. Source: The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.
National Art Training School, London See South Kensington School of Art, London
National Arts Club Located in two brownstones at 14 and 15 Gramercy Park South in New York City, the National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay, art and literary critic, 1848-1935. His goal was to educate the public on the merits of American Art and to bring together some of America's foremost artists and collectors to encourage widespread support. The original membership campaign brought in 1200 charter members. Membership peaked in 1920 with 1800 persons and began to decline after World War II. However, in 1985, the Club experienced a revival, and numbers in the late 1990s leveled at about 2000 names. Immediately upon its founding exhibitions were organized, and in 1906 the move was made to the current headquarters. The NAC has its own art collection, begun in 1909, and housed in the headquarters, formerly the home of former New York Governor Samuel Tilden. Source: "California Art Club Newsletter", 2/2002, Elaine Adams.
National Association of Women Artists Founded in 1889 as a non-profit, member-supported organization of women in the fine arts with the name of New York Women's Club, it remains the oldest active professional women's art group. The names changed beginning 1913, when it became Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. From 1916 to 1941, it was the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, and from 1941 forward, the name has been National Association of Women Artists. However, primary purposes remained the same, which are to encourage and promote creativity of women in the visual arts and to promote public awareness about them. NAWA sponsors year-round juried exhibitions for members and exhibitions that travel worldwide. Founding members of what was then called the New York Women's Club included Anita C. Ashley, Adele Francis Bedell, Elizabeth S. Cheever, Grace Fitz-Randolph and Edith Mitchill Prellwitz. Among later members after the first name change are Louise Nevelson, Anna Hyatt Huntington, Malvina Hoffman, Anne Goldthwaite, Elizabeth Nourse, Theresa Bernstein, Claude Hirst, Charlotte Coman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney and Anna Hyatt Huntington and Alice Schille. Sources: http://www.anny.org/2/orgs/0231/nawa.htm; Peter Falk, Art Historian; AskART.com. Submitted 2014 by Susan G. Hammond, Executive Director of NAWA
National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors See National Association of Women Artists
National Cartoonists Society An organization of professional cartoonists formed in 1946, its origin stemmed from cartoonists who got together to entertain U.S. troops, and finding they enjoyed each other, decided to meet on a regular basis. Membership is limited to professional cartoonists with the purpose of advancing "the ideals and standards of professional cartooning in its many forms" and to encourage public acceptance of cartooning. The organization annually gives the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year and the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award. Members include Fred Harman, Joe Kubert and Bill Watterson. Source: Wikipedia: National Cartoonists Society; AskART biographies
National College of Art and Design, Dublin Linked to Robert West, who gave private drawing lessons in Dublin, the school formed in 1746 when the Dublin Society of Artists took over his lessons and operated three schools: Figure Drawing, Landscape, and Ornamental and Architectural Drawing. In 1811, the School of Modelling was added, and in 1854, the Department of Science and Art in London began oversight. In 1877, the entities combined into The Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, and 12 years later it became the National College of Art and Design. The main campus in on Thomas Street in the historic area of Dublin. Source: http://www.ncad.ie/about/history.shtml
National Gallery of Victoria An art gallery and museum in Melbourne, Australia, it was founded in 1861. It is the oldest and largest public museum in Australia, and since 2003 has two locations: Melbourne Arts Precinct and Federation Square. The collection has over 65,000 works, old and modern. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_of_Victoria
National Institute of Arts and Letters See American Academy of Arts and Letters
National League of American Pen Women See League of American Pen Women
National Medal of Arts An award created by the U.S. Congress in 1984, it is an honor for artists and artist patrons. Selections are made by a committee of the National Endowment for the Arts, and presentations are made by Presidents of the United States. Sculptor Robert Graham designed the Medal. Recipients include Louise Nevelson, Georgia O'Keeffe, Andrew Wyeth, Jasper Johns and Willem de Kooning. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Medal_of_Arts
National Portrait Gallery A museum in London, England at St. Martin's off Trafalgar Square, it houses portrait paintings of famous, historically important British citizens, now totaling about 10,000 works. Selection is by significance of the sitter, not the artist. It opened in 1856, and is the first gallery/museum in the world dedicated solely to portraiture. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Portrait_Gallery_%28London%29
National Sculpture Society The oldest organization of professional sculptors in the United States, the NSS is composed of master sculptors and architects dedicated to excellence in idealized figurative sculpture in classical realist or Beaux-Arts style. Daniel Chester French, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Richard Morris Hunt, and Stanford White founded the NSS in New York City in 1893, the same year as the Chicago Exposition. The first president of the National Sculpture Society was John Quincy Adams Ward. The Chicago Exposition was a turning point in collaboration between architects and sculptors and launched the success of many NSS members. The purpose of the organization was and remains to open public and private markets for sculptors. Early members were quite successful in dominating public commissions as long as they had architectural work and a nation that wanted to honor heroic individuals with their style of work. However members dating from the mid 20th century have not been as successful marketing traditional figurative sculpture with because of the popularity of more modernist styles and lessening demands for realist style commemorative artwork. Source: Donald Martin Reynolds, "Masters of American Sculpture"; www.nationalsculpture.org
National Society of Painters in Casein See National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic
National Society of Painters in Casein and Acrylic Founded in the early 1950s to give artists a chance to exhibit their casein and/or acrylic artwork, regardless of style or subject matter, it was first named The National Society of Painters in Casein. Some years later when acrylic became commercially popular with artists, that category was added to the name of the organization whose president was then Ralph Fabri. Other artist members include Louis Lozowick, Elias Newman and Xavier Barile, and today about 30 states are represented. Sources: Website of The NSPC&A; AskART Biographies
National Watercolor Society Founded in 1920 as the California Water Color Society, its members are dedicated to a new appreciation of a medium long associated with merely sketching. The name of the Society has changed twice since that time: first in 1967, to California National Watercolor Society; then in 1975, when the members voted to become simply the National Watercolor Society. Its headquarters are now in San Pedro, California and the goals of its members are quality exhibitions and accompanying educational programs and materials. Members include Harley Brown, Francis de Erdelyi and Dean Mitchell. Source: 'National Watercolor Society', "Wikipedia", nationalwatercolorsociety.wildapricot.org; AskART biographies/
Native Chalk See Chalk
Native School A term applicable to a mid 19th century American fine art painting movement, it expressed a commitment by artists to communal experiences and ideals. Landscape painter Asher B. Durand described it when he called for "an original school of art worthy to share the tribute of universal respect paid to our condition of political advancement." In other words, it was artwork that appealed to the common man and to the universal pride in America following the Revolutionary War. The Hudson River Painters with focus on beauty of American landscape, embraced these ideas. Native School artists in addition to Durand were Thomas Cole, William Sidney Mount, and towards the end of the movement, Winslow Homer. Source: James Thomas Flexner, "Introduction to History of American Painting, Volume III".
Naturalism, Naturalist As observed in 'nature' or the natural world, it is descriptive in fine art of a style close to realism, although it may have elements of lighting and color effects that border on abstraction. Paintings by Jules Bastien-Lepage are described as Naturalist because they have a direct and non-sentimental approach to genre subjects, are drawn from Naturalist authors such as Emile Zola, and are combined with the interest in natural light and modern painting techniques adopted from the Impressionists, who drew from nature. Source: Schillier & Bodo European Paintings Gallery; AskART.com biography of Lepage.
Naturalists See Pre-Raphaelites
Nazarene A group of early 19th century German Romantic painters, they shared a commitment to simplicity and reviving honesty and spirituality in Christian art. The name Nazarene was derisive, given to them because of their affectation of Biblical mannerisms and dress. Members included Carl Begas, Wilhelm von Schadow, Eugene von Guerard and Philipp Veit. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazarene_movement
Nazarene Movement Organized in early 19th century Rome by German romantic painters, the group sought to rebel against Neo-Classicism and express pre-Renaissance simplicity of Christian art. Some of the 'Nazarenes' lived monastically in the old Franciscan convent of San Isidoro, and were derisively described as Nazarenes for perceived affectation of Biblical manner and clothing. Their painting tended to have noble ideas, precise outlines, scholastic composition and light, shade and color to emphasize their purpose. Leaders of the movement were Johann Overbeck, Friedrich Schadow, Peter von Cornelius and Julius Schnorr. By 1830, the group had disbanded, and many of its members returned to Germany and became influential teachers. Source: Wikipedia and AskART biographies.
Negative Space The space in a painting around the objects depicted.
Neo Plasticism See De Stijl
Neo Realism See New Realism
Neo-Classical, Neo-Classicism A term meaning “New” classicism, it was a style in 19th-century European and American painting and sculpture that referred back to the classical styles of Greece and Rome. Neo-Classicism became popular in an era of idealism and suggested the "ideal life reborn" (Couper) and celebration of perfect human form as a work of god's creation. Neo-Classical artworks have sharp and realistic delineation of the human figure, reserved emotional tone, deliberate and often mathematical composition, and cool colors such as can be found in white marble. Neo-Classicism was taught in art academies in the 19th century, but was suppressed in popularity in the early 20th century by more emotion-based styles such as Impressionism and Social Realism. Italian Antonio Canova and Danish Bertel Thorvaldsen were leading Neo-Classical sculptors working in Rome. American painters and sculptors who worked in the Neo-Classical style include Charles Willson Peale, John Vanderlyn, Hiram Powers, Harriet Hosmer, Edwin Weeks, Henry Benbridge, Bessie Vonnoh, Thomas Crawford, Albert Herter, William Couper, Edmonia Lewis and Erastus Palmer: Sources: Artlex.com, courtesy Michael Delahunt; Greta Elena Couper, “An American Sculptor on the Grand Tour”; Online Encyclopedia of Irish and World Artists.
Neo-Concrete Art See Concrete
Neo-Dada A mid 1950s to mid 1960s style in the United States, it bridged Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art. The term was first used in a January 1958 issue of "ARTnews" magazine to describe work of Jasper Johns, Allan Kaprow, Robert Rauschenberg and Cy Twombly. However, Neo-Dada became more associated with Johns and Rauschenberg, who used gestural methods of the Abstract Expressionists but painted recognizable, everyday objects into their artwork. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"
Neo-Expressionism / Neo-Expressionist An international movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was a reaction against the experimentation of Conceptual art and the severity of Minimalism. Neo-Expressionists often express intense, violent feelings emphasized by gestural motions in applying paint. The term is widely used to describe works done primarily by German and Italian artists who came to maturity in the post-WWII era. In the 1980s the meaning expanded to include certain American artists such as Nancy Graves, Robert Longo, Ed Paschke, David Salle, Julian Schnabel, Robert Morris, Sue Coe, Martha Diamond and Donald Sultan. Its exponents utilize traditional approaches such as easel painting and cast and carved sculpture. However generalizations about subject matter are difficult because they are so wide ranging from surrealist dreams to allegory to mythology. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"; AskART biographies
Neo-Geo A shortening of the words neo-geometric conceptualism, the term is confusing because it originally was applied to artists whose work seems to have little in common with each other: Ashley Bickerton, Peter Halley, Jeff Koons and Meyer Vaisman. Others linked to the tradition but not the origin are Steven Parrino, Haim Steinbach and John Armleder. What is shared among these artists "is an interest in the cool ironies of POP ART and the use of Conceptual art to address issues related to the nature of the art market during New York's economic boom of the 1980s. Many regard the description 'Neo-Geo' as nothing more than a marketing device . . . and of the art market's insatiable appetite for the new, rather than as an aesthetic sign post." By 1989, the term was rarely mentioned as joint exhibitions of the original four artists drew little attention. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"
Neo-Impressionism A late 19th-century French art movement, it originated in Paris with artist Georges Seurat (1859-1891) and was carried on by Paul Signac (1863-1935). Although sometimes the overall affect was similar to Impressionism, Neo-Impressionism was a marked departure in several ways: The application of paint was done scientifically and precisely by a method of tiny detached strokes of pure color, many of them rounded dots which became known as Pointillism. Its precise technique was the opposite approach of the Impressionists who, in one handling of the canvas, grabbed the 'fleeting moment' of the day with 'slap/dash' strokes. Also the colors on a Neo-Impressionist painting were positioned so that each was featured like a shining light, which again differed markedly from the often murky or 'run together' look of Impressionist painting. Seurat's ideas were much influenced by the writings about color theory of chemist, Michel Eugéne Chevreul, early 19th century Director of the Gobelin Tapestry Works. Sources: barewalls.com-Seurat; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Eugène_Chevreul; WebMuseum, Paris,Signac.
Neo-Romanticism, Neo Romantic A 1930s to 1950s movement in painting, theatre, illustration, and film, focus on landscape and figurative expression was poetic or personal. It was a response to tensions of pre-World War II and a fusion of modernist expression of abstract painters such as Picasso with romantics such as William Blake and William Wordsworth. It was "an attempt to demonstrate the survival and freedom of expression of the nation's spiritual life." Eugene Berman has been described as a Neo-Romantic artist, and Gustav Mahler as a neo-romantic musician. Source: Answers.com; AskART biographies.
Neon Sculpture Art shaped by neon and fluorescent light, its focus is illumination and color and suggests commercialization because its thin tubal lights are often used for advertising signs. Vardea Chryssa, stimulated by the lights of Times Square in New York City, is one of the pioneers of Neon lights in sculpture. Beginning 1962, she used illumination with and without color and subtle sequential lighting effects, usually in Plexiglas boxes. oseph Rees, creating pop art objects such as tables, chairs and eye glasses, was also a pioneer in the use of neon. Other neon artists are Dan Flavin who works with commercial tubes, Billy Apple and Stephen Antonakos. "Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art"; AskART biographies.
Netsuke Miniature sculptures invented in 17th century Japan, they were carved wood button-like fasteners for small baskets or boxes, which, dangled with cords from pocketless garments, and held personal items. They evolved from practical function to collectibles as expressions of extraordinary craftsmanship. Source: Wikipedia, //en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netsuke
Neue (New) Secession An association led by Georg Tappert and Max Pechstien to introduce expressionist art, members exhibited together in Berlin in 1910-1914. The movement was short lived because of dissention of the group. Source: 'The New Secession,' "Wikipedia," June 2016
Neue Wilde See Junge Wilde
Neutral Having no hue – it is the 'color' of black, white, or gray or is sometimes a tannish color achieved by mixing two complementary colors.
New Bauhaus See Illinois Institute of Design
New England School of Art See New England School of Art and Design
New England School of Art and Design Located at Suffolk University in Boston, it was founded in 1923 as a school of fine arts, graphic and interior design, interior architecture and illustration. Initially the name was New England School of Art, and it was a private school offering BFA, MA and MFA degrees. In 1975, the name changed to New England School of Art and Design, and it relocated to 28 Newbury Street. In 1995, the facility moved to 75 Arlington Street in Boston's Back Bay and now occupies over 43,000 square feet. In 1988, collaboration began with Suffolk University so that art and design students could take classes on that campus. In 1996, the institutions merged with the School of Art and Design becoming a department in the College of Art & Sciences. The NESAD has been ranked as one of the "Top Ten" interior design programs in the U.S. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England_School_of_Art_and_Design
New England Watercolor Society Formerly the Boston Watercolor Society, the NEWS became the name in 1885 with an exhibition opening of work by thirteen artists including Childe Hassam, Phillip Little and Ross Turner. In 1892, the name changed to The Boston Society of Watercolor Painters. Annual exhibitions venues include The Boston Art Club, Vose Galleries and Museum of Fine Arts Boston. In 1966, the name changed back to The Boston Watercolor Society. Source: http://www.newenglandwatercolorsociety.org/history.html
New English Art Club Founded in London in 1886, it was as an exhibiting society by artists influenced by Impressionism and rejected by the conservative Royal Academy. Key early members were James McNeill Whistler (although he soon resigned) Walter Sickert and Philip Steer. Others in the first show included George Clausen, Stanhope Forbes and John Singer Sargent. Initially "avant-garde", the NEAC became increasingly conservative and Sickert and Steer formed an 'Impressionist nucleus' within it, staging their own show, London Impressionists in 1889. NEAC remains important as a showcase entity for advanced art with emphasis on preserving Impressionism. Source: Tate Glossary – http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=195. Also See Federation of British Artists. Submitted to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke, Art Historian, West Vancouver, British Columbia
New Group See New Hope Modernists.
New Harmony Arts Community Named for New Harmony, a southwest Indiana frontier town founded by utopian seekers who called themselves Harmonists, the town, with a population of about one-thousand persons, has become an arts mecca. It was founded in 1814, and has been led in the 20th century by retired physician and philanthropist Dr. George Rapp, descendant of the original founder, Reverend George Rapp. In 1997, Rapp initiated annual exhibitions called "First Blush of Spring Paint-Outs", now a joint project with The Hoosier Salon, Indiana Plein-Air Painters Association, and New Harmony Artists Guild. Artists compete for prizes and sales and hold workshops and also sessions to critique each other's work. The April 2004 "Paint Out" featured a workshop by plein-air landscape painter David Slonim. Credit: Steve Zimmerman, Art Collector and Historian of Indianapolis, Indiana.
New Haven Paint and Clay Club Founded in 1900 in New Haven, Connecticut by a group of artists, many whom had studied at Yale University, they decided to hold a contemporary art show, the chose an exhibition site in a printer's shop in Pitkin Alley. The second year they outgrew that space and within several years, the group was a prestigious art association in New Haven and was holding their exhibitions at Yale and at the New Haven Public Library. The Club has continued into the 21st century and sponsors two shows annually: an active members exhibit in the fall and a spring juried exhibit of New York and New England artists. Artists qualify to be Paint and Clay Club members if they are accepted at both exhibitions. Located in the John Slade Ely House at 51 Trumbull Street,the Club also has a permanent early membership list include Frederick Sexton, Augustus Tack, Emile Gruppe, Marguerite Stuber Pearson, Anthony Thieme, Marion Boyd Allen and Eleanor Parke Custis. Sources: www.newhavenpaintandclayclub.org/history; //mattatuckmuseum.org/artists/gall.htm; Helen Fuscuss, "Frederick Sexton" (Connecticut Gallery, Inc.)
New Hope Group / Painters See New Hope Modernists or New Hope Impressionists
New Hope Impressionists / Pennsylvania School Leading American impressionist landscape painters in the early 20th Century, these artists, beginning 1898, settled in Bucks County, Pennsylvania in the area of New Hope. They were also in neighboring towns of Solebury and Center Bridge and Lambertsville, New Jersey. The movement was referred to as the Pennsylvania School by New York artist and teacher Guy Pene Du Bois, who described their paintings as "our first truly national expression". Leading members of the early group were Edward Redfield, William Lathrop, Charles Rosen, Daniel Garber, Robert Spencer, Rae Sloan Bredin and Morgan Colt. Walter Schofield was associated with the group but never lived in Bucks County. Their exhibition group was called the New Hope Group. Source: Thomas Folk, "The Pennsylvania Impressionists", p. 15
New Hope Modernists:The New Group and Independents New Hope, Pennsylvania Modernists were active in the first half of the twentieth century along side their New Hope Impressionist peers. In 1930, modernist Lloyd Ney submitted a painting of the New Hope canal for entry to a juried exhibition at the Phillips Mill. One of the bridges depicted in the work was painted in a bright red. An influential member of the jury board, William Lathrop, rejected Ney’s painting, citing the bright colors as too disturbing. When word of this omission reached fellow modernist, Charles Ramsey, he decided to take action. Miffed by this disregard for their modernist ideas and techniques, Ramsey formed the ”New Group,” an organization intended to rebel against the more traditional impressionists. New Group members had their inaugural show in the New Hope Town Hall on May 15, 1930, a day before the Phillips Mill Impressionist exhibition. The New Group operated with no formal organization or committees, and allowed each artist to select his or her work. Artists included Charles Ramsey, Stanley Reckless, Ethel Wallace, Lloyd Ney and Charles Garner. Although Charles Ramsey was creating Cubist and modernist works in New Hope in the late teens, the New Group was the first designated modernist organization to form there but was soon followed by another association called the Independents. This group consisted of most New Group artists as well as R.A.D. Miller, Peter Keenan, Charles Evans, Henry Baker, Richard Wedderspoon, Carl Lindborg, Frederick Harer, Faye Swengel Badura, Louis Stone and Charles Ward, among others. Other important modernist painters to later settle in the area were Josef Zenk, Scandinavian-born B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Swiss-born Joseph Meierhans who studied in New York with John Sloan, Clarence Carter, and precisionist, Richard Peter Hoffman of Allentown. Source: James Alterman, "New Hope for American Art", p. 13
New Horizons (Ofakim Hadashim) The New Horizons (aka: Ofakim Hadashim) art movement began with a group of artists who mounted an exhibition in Tel Aviv's Habima Theater in December 1942, under the name "The Group of Eight."In February 1947 five of the original members of the group joined Joseph Zaritsky for an exhibit called "The Group of Seven" [aka: Hasivah Exhibition] (Arie Aroch, Aharon Giladi, Zvi Mairovich, Avraham Naton, Yehezkel Streichman and Jacob Wexler) at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. The New Horizons group evolved into a coherent artistic movement only after the founding of the state of Israel in 1948. It exhibited frequently through the 1950s, and had its last exhibition in 1963. The group sought a style that reflected the striving for Zionism and Modernism. This style was largely dictated by the leading artists of the group - Zaritsky, Avigdor Stematsky, Zvi Mairovich and Yehezkel Streichman. Their styles included Cubism and Expressionism; however, in general the "New Horizons" group tended more toward the abstract, and away from reliance on the figurative. Other group members included: Arie Aroch, Avraham Naton (Natanson), Dov Feigin, Pinchas Abramovich, Marcel Janco, Aharon Kahana, Yohanan Simon, Avshalom Okashi, Moshe Castel, Avigdor Renzo Luisada, Mordechai Arieli, Itzhak Danziger, Jacob Wexler, Moshe Propes, Robert Baser, Ruth Zarfati, Chaim Kiewe, Moshe Sternschuss, Yechiel Shemi. Source: Israel Museum. Abridged and submitted to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.
New Image A term derived from the 1978 Whitney Museum exhibition, "New Image Painting", it signaled the return of recognizable figurative images, which was a "shocking" challenge to an art world dominated by Minimalism and Conceptualism. Philip Guston, former Abstract Expressionist, was the early proponent of New Image painting, which became the forerunner of the Post-Modern return to figurative imagery. Although Guston's cartoon-like figure and style were not copied, many artists were influenced by his rebelliousness and "gutzy eccentricity." Nicholas Africano did small figures; Susan Rothenberg sketched horses; Neil Jenney did images with explanatory titles; Jennifer Bartlett did paintings on steel plates; Pat Steir did historical scenes; and Jonathan Borofsky sculpted abstract figures. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"
New Leipzig School A post World War II art movement in parts of Europe cut off from outside cultural influences by the Iron Curtain, it involved young artists dedicated to traditional studies, especially figurative education, that in the West had been overrun by abstraction. New Leipzig artists "flocked to the Leipzig Art Academy in East Germany" in order to get art education that allowed them to express themselves in a disciplined but personal way. Much of their painting and sculpture was hauntingly and surrealistically narrative, reflective of their war experiences. Source: Editors, 'Best of the West-Pacific Northwest', "Southwest Art", February 2007, p. 66.
New Media Artwork done using a computer, it is either displayed on a computer screen or "outputted" in some manner such as on paper, canvas, etc. Source: Daniel C. Boyer, Artist
New Mexico Painters Organized June 6, 1923 by New Mexico painters who felt isolated from active art markets and exhibition venues, its purpose was joint exhibitions for marketing purposes in east, southwest and west venues. Original members were Frank Applegate, Josef Bakos, Gustave Baumann, Ernest Blumenschein, William Penhallow Henderson, Victor Higgins, B.J. Nordfeldt and Walter Ufer. In 1924, five more artists joined: John Sloan, Randall Davey, Andrew Dasburg, Theodore Van Soelen and Walter Mruk. That year exhibition venues included the San Diego Museum, Los Angeles County Museum and Art Institute of Chicago. The groups last show together was in 1927. Source: Daria Labinsky and Stan Hieronymus, "Frank Applegate of Santa Fe, Artist and Preservationist"
New New Painters A group of late 20th and early 21st century American painters, they use abstract style simply to paint and enjoy the process and not to convey social messages or obvious themes. The goal is to focus only on the painting itself and the limitless possibilities of creation within the medium, which usually is acrylic. This water-based paint is favored because it can be applied in many layers and can be added to a variety of binders. The New New Painters are especially interested in details of process such as a blob of paint, a squirt from a paint tube, gesture of the artist and brushstrokes. However, they seldom use brushstrokes as most prefer pouring paints from buckets, spreading around with sticks, combining with bits of glass, etc. Unlike many abstract artists who wish to be perceived as intellectuals, New New Painters are not embarrassed if their work appears decorative. They deliberately use color in abundance, an expression of the richness of their American environment. New New artists include Lucy Baker, Steven Brent, Irene Neal, Marjorie Minkin, Roy Lerner, Joseph Drapell and Graham Peacock. In 2002, The New New Painters were featured in an exhibition of the National Gallery of Prague, Czechoslavakia as contrasts to the more self-limiting art promoted in that country. Source: Natalie Sykorova, Curator, "New New Painters", catalogue of the National Gallery in Prage, 2002.
New Objectivity The New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) emerged as a style in Germany in the 1920s as a challenge to Expressionism. As its name suggests, it offered a return to unsentimental reality and a focus on the objective world, as opposed to the more abstract, romantic, or idealistic tendencies of Expressionism. The style is most often associated with portraiture, and its leading practitioners included Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and George Grosz. Their mercilessly naturalistic depictions, sometimes reminiscent of the meticulous processes of the Old Masters, frequently portrayed Weimar society in a caustically satirical manner. The style’s name comes from a groundbreaking exhibition organized by curator Gustav Hartlaub in Mannheim in 1925. Hartlaub's original title for the exhibition was Post-Expressionism. Source: Website of "German Expressionism, Museum of Modern Art, New York City".
New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts Located in New Orleans, Louisiana at 5256 Magazine Street, it was founded in 1978 by Auseklis Ozols, who was inspired by the model of Thomas Eakins and The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. The goal was to teach Classical techniques, working from life models and based on the following commitments: "The ancient academies were collections of such people who sought others like themselves, along with a place to share their ideas. Artists working in guilds or academies have accumulated a vast wealth of information, technical as well as aesthetic, over the centuries. Artists learned from their master and in turn, pass their knowledge to future generations. The New Orleans Academy of Fine Arts strives to continue this legacy by providing the facilities for serious study of the fine arts." Source: Wikipedia, 2020
New Realism Meaning 'new way to perceive the real', it was a 1960s avant-garde art movement begun by the painter Yves Klein and art critic Pierre Restany. An underlying goal was bringing art and life closer together into a "a poetic recycling of urban, industrial and advertising reality". Assemblage grew out of this movement. The Apollinaire Gallery in Milan hosted the group's first exhibition, and other exhibition galleries were Sidney Janis in New York, and Gallery J in Paris. New Realist artists included Niki de Saint Phalle, Jean Tinguely, Yves Klein, Arman and Christo. The group dissolved in 1970. Source: Wikipedia, "Nouveau realisme".
New School for Social Research Founded in 1919, it is a New York City educational entity located primarily in Greenwich Village. Between 1997 and 2005, it was known as New School University, and from then has had the name, The New School. It was founded by US Fabian Socialists including Alvin Johnson upon concepts of equality, and from its inception has been known for avant-garde teaching. Degrees are undergraduate and graduate, and there are eight schools within: social science, liberal arts, humanities, architecture, fine arts, design, music, drama, finance, psychology and public policy, which houses the World Policy Institute. Its graduate school began in 1933 and was dubbed the University in Exile because it was a sanctuary for European scholars rescued by their U.S. counterparts before and during World War II. Enrollment in the 21st Century is about 7000 students. Among teachers have been Jacob Lawrence, Bruno Lucchesi, and Robert Gwathmey, and student alumni include Red Grooms, Leonard Baskin, Jo Baer, and Dan Flavin. Sources: Wikipedia, "The New School"; AskART biographies
New School of Art, Toronto See Three Schools of Art
New School University See New School for Social Research
New Society of Americans in Paris Formed in 1908, it was a secessionist movement against the Society of American Artists in Paris and its control of international exhibition recognition. Founding members included Alfred Maurer, Max Weber, John Marin and Edward Steichen. Among their grievances against the old Society were that it was a "close corporation made up of men of international reputation", which used its influence in Europe to "monopolize honors and emoluments and to keep from recognition any persons not in its good graces." It was written "that while practically every member of the Society of American Painters in Paris is decorated with the Legion of Honor, not more than three or four members of that petrified body are doing anything for American art." Source: "The New York Times", February 26, 1908.
New Society of Painters in Water Colours See Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
New Tendencies An art movement between 1961 and 1973 of five international exhibitions held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, it expressed "the phenomenon of the avant-garde post World War II art scene. It was a time when positive feelings were emerging about science, the wonders of modern architecture and general feelings that technology and industrialization could create good living for many persons in western civilization. New Tendencies is described as the "last international art movement whose representatives still had hopes for the possibility of social and political change in the contemporary world.” Descriptive terms of style and methods include Neo-Constructivism, Neo-Concretist optical, programmed, kinetic, lumino-kinetic, and computer art. Around 1968, the movement began to die out because of disillusion with societal realities. Ivan Picelja of Zagreb was one of the artists. Source: “Impossible Histories”, by Dubravka Djuirc and Misko Suvakovic.
New Water Colour Society See Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours
New Wave Initially a word used to described French filmmakers of the late 1950s, the term New Wave in the 1980s became associated with the combining of music and Performance Art. The definition has come to mean a mix of Graffiti, Neo-Expressionists and East Village Artists. Alternative Spaces showcase New Wave events. Two major New York exhibitions of New Wave artists in the 1980s brought the name to the attention of the media. One of them was in an Alternative Space, which was a dilapidated former massage parlor that offered an alternative to the familiar white-walled art galleries. The second exhibition, held in 1981, was in a space called P.S. 1. New Wave artists include Tom Otterness and John Ahearn. Source: Robert Atkins, "Art Speak"
New Woodland School Style A merging of Ojibway tradition with European notions of fine art, it was pioneered by Jackson Beardy. His art is representative of the New Woodland School style: iconic figures, an undifferentiated background, systems of linear determinatives, x-ray perspectives, and vibrant unmixed hues. With cultural specificity, it reflects his search for "a visual symbolic language that would convey a cohesive world view," as Colleen Cutschall described it in 1994. "Beardy created an art of profound cultural change – steeped both in a traditional heritage and a contemporary reality and relevance. His work is powerful in its historical, cultural and political significances." Source: AskART Biography, courtesy M.D. Silverbrooke
New York Academy of Art Also known as the Graduate School of Figurative Art, it is a private, not-for-profit New York City university. Andy Warhol and others founded the school in 1982 to offer instruction in figurative arts. The Academy has a two-year course, whose completion is a Master of Fine Arts. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Academy_of_Art
New York Academy of the Fine Arts See American Academy of the Fine Arts
New York Etching Club America's first professional organization devoted to etching, it was prominent in the 19th century. The first meeting was held May 2, 1877 in the New York studio of James Smillie. Featured for discussion was an etching by Robert Swain Gifford printed on a press built by Henry Farrer. From 1879 to 1881, the Etching Club was featured in a periodical called "The American Art Review". Source: Wikipedia, New York Etching Club
New York Feminist Art Institute Founded in 1979 by women artists, educators and professionals, it was a school and community for women artists located at 325 Spring Street (1979-1985) and 91 Franklin Street (1985-1990). It focused on self development and personal discovery as well as art. Founding members included Nancy Azara, Miriam Schapiro and Irene Peslikis. NYFAI shut down in 1990 due to lack of funding. Source: Wikipedia
New York School Described as the first truly American art style, it references a broad and diverse group of American artists, almost exclusively men, active in the 1940s and 1950s. The term includes Abstract Expressionism, Abstract Impressionism and Action Painting and is elusive of tight definition because innovation and individual expression are unifying characteristics. New York School artists, working from personal impulses and defying academic traditions, shared the urban environment of New York City with most of them living in an area bordered by 8th and 12th Streets between First and Sixth Avenues. The New York School movement was stirred by several conjoining events: Hans Hoffman and the opening of his school;introduction of Surrealism and Cubism into American Art with arrival of artists from France escaping World War II; and exhibitions of avant-garde European art by Peggy Guggenheim. Their first organization meeting was in 1948 at Studio 35, and until April, 1950, it was a meeting place for lectures and discussion. Involved were Mark Rothco, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhardt, Willem De Kooning and Barnet Newman and they joined with others in 1949 to form The Club, a group of twenty artists whose meeting place was The Cedar Bar. Their first exhibition was May to June 1951. Franz Kline designed the poster, and sixty-one artists participated. Public response was minimal, but twenty-four of the artists continued to exhibit together from 1953 to 1957 at the Stable Gallery. Later in the 1950s, a second generation of New York School painters emerged, but the movements energy declined with Pop Art painters staging a rebellion against Abstraction. Sources: Marika Herskovic, "New York School", "Phaidon Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Art"
New York School of Applied Design for Women Established in 1892 by Ellen Dunlop Hopkins, a promoter of the Arts and Crafts movement, the school made available practical learning so that women could make a living in arts and crafts related occupations such as book cover designs, stained glass, textile design and illustration. The original location was 200 West 23rd Street, and through several transitions and supported by John D. Rockefeller, merged in the mid 1970s with the Pratt Institute. Among the teachers were Alphonse Mucha and Anthony Sisti, and students included Isabel Bishop and Peggy Bacon. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_School_of_Applied_Design
New York School of Art See Chase School of Art
New York School of Interior Design Founded in 1916 in New York City and located since 1994 at 170 East 70th Street, the school was founded by architect Sherrill Whiton at a time Interior Design was first being recognized as a profession that required training. In 1924, it was chartered by the New York State Board of Regents. Curriculum focuses on fostering dialog between architecture and interior design and setting high accreditation standards for its students, which included Bernard Perlin and Max Walter. Source: http://www.nysid.edu/
New York Society of Women Artists Founded in 1920 by 23 female painters and sculptors with a commitment to promoting avant-garde women art, it was one of the early women's art association in America. It was a rebellion against the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors, considered by the rebels to be nothing more than 'Sunday Painters'. Among original NYSWA members were Henrietta Shore, Bena Frank Meyer, Lucy L'Engle and Minna Harkavy; Marguerite Zorach served as the first President. An "ARTnews" critic, praising an early exhibition, described the Society as a "battalion of Amazons that is surely unbeatable." The group is still active with some exhibitions being at Lever House on West 57th Street. Sources: http://www.anny.org/2/orgs/0188/002p0188.htm; http://www.anny.org/2/orgs/0188/nywa.htm; AskART biography of Lucy L'Engle
New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred Univers Founded and signed into law in 1900 by Governor Theodore Roosevelt in New York State, it was initially named the New York State College of Ceramics. Charles Fergus Binns, a British ceramist, served as the first Director. The college has three schools, School of Art and Design, Inamori School of Engineering and Samuel R. Scholes Library. The Inamori School of Engineering offers the programs in ceramics, glass, biomaterials and materials science. Notable alumni include Ruth Gowdy McKenley, Maija Grotell, Steve Heinemann and Michael Lax. Source: Wikpedia
New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture Founded in New York City in 1964 by Mercedes Matter, curriculum was Drawing, Painting and Sculpture. A year earlier, Matter wrote an article for "ARTnews" titled 'What's Wrong with U.S. Art Schools?' in which she criticized phasing out of extended studio classes, which served "that painfully slow education of the senses" that she considered essential. The article prompted a group of Pratt students, as well as some from Philadelphia, to ask Matter to form a school based on her ideas. The school was originally housed in a loft on Broadway and gained almost immediate support from the Kaplan Fund, Mrs. John D. Rockefeller III and the Ford Foundation. It granted no degrees, had only studio classes and emphasized drawing from life. Early teachers, chosen by the students, included the artists Philip Guston, Bradley Walker Tomlin, Charles Cajori, Louis Finkelstein and Sidney Geist; the art historian Meyer Schapiro; and composer Morton Feldman. The school continues to train emerging artists. Source; Wikipedia, Mercedes Matter
New York Water Color Club Founded in 1890 in response to perceived lax exhibition criteria of the American Watercolor Society, founders of the NYWCC had the goal of promoting pastels as well as watercolors through Fall exhibitions and of raising of exhibition criteria standards. It was an era before many commercial art galleries, so annual exhibitions were important to promoting artwork. The first NYWCC meeting was March 26, 1890, and founders included Childe Hassam, the first President; Charles Warren Eaton, Treasurer; Rhoda Holmes Nicholls, Vice President; and Henry Bayley Snell. Others who joined shortly after were John Twachtman, Walter Launt Palmer, Winslow Homer, Maurice Prendergast and Irving Ramsey Wiles. The first exhibition, which received positive reviews, was held at the American Galleries and had about 400 entries. The NYWCC also did much to promote women artists through club leadership positions and exhibition space. Of the original membership, half were women, which was a contrast with the American Watercolor Society in 1906 when “The New York Times” had a note that only two of its ninety-nine members were women. In 1941, with many differences resolved, The New York Watercolor Club merged with the American Watercolor Society and took the name of American Watercolor Society Source: David A. Cleveland, ‘The New York Water Color Club’, “The Magazine Antiques”, November 2005, pp. 116-121.
New York Women's Art Club See National Association of Women Artists
New York Women's Club See National Association of Women Artists
Newcomb Pottery Inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement of creating hand-made products, Newcomb Pottery, was founded in New Orleans and became one of the most famous early 20th century lines of pottery. It remains highly collectible, although its production ceased in 1940, having resulted in approximately seventy-thousand pieces designed by ninety women artists. It has been reported that shortly after the end of production, during renovation of the College Art Department, pottery was thrown from the upper story windows to make room for workers. The Pottery building on Camp Street, where Newcomb Pottery was made, remains standing (2004) and is a registered historic landmark. Newcomb was unusual from many other pottery companies because of educational connection to a college, which was Newcomb College at Tulane University. Large collections of the pottery are in the Newcomb Art Department, the Louisiana State Museum, the Fine Arts Museum at Louisiana State University, and the Historic New Orleans Collection. Newcomb pottery has been featured on traveling exhibits including "The Arts and Crafts Movement in the South", held in 1996 at the High Museum in Atlanta and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, North Carolina. Source: The Columbus Museum, Columbus Georgia; http://www.tulane.edu/~wc/pottery/today.html
Newlyn School A colony of artists around Newlyn, a fishing village in Cornwall, England, it was active from the 1880s to the early 20th Century and continues to be a favored gathering place for artists. The term, Newlyn School, has also become synonymous with British Impressionism. Walter Langley is credited as Colony founder. Similar to the California plein-air movement, it was inspired by the Barbizon School of painting, and attracted artists seeking rural settings in 'pure' natural light. The area also had other attractions such as inexpensive accommodations and models who charged very little money. Participants included Lamorna Birch, Stanhope Forbes, Norman Garstin, Albert Tayler and Frederick Hall. Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newlyn_School
Newlyn Society of Artists Founded in 1895 and with a Society membership of about 150 painters, photographers, printmakers, and multi-media artists, the Society is based in Cornwall, England. For exhibitions, the Society has a working relationship with the Newlyn Gallery, which was built by benefactor John Passmore Edwards. The Society and Gallery continue their working relationship into the 21st Century. Source: Newland Society of Artists, http://www.nsanewlyn.com/
Newman Galleries Dating to 1865 at 16th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia, it was founded by Adolph and George Newman and represents Pennsylvania artists, especially those who have attended the Pennsylvania Academy. With 4th and 5th generation Newman family members, the Gallery continues operation and has become one of the oldest, ongoing art galleries in America. Artist estates represented include those of Daniel Garber, Edward Redfield, Kenneth Nunamker and John Folinsbee. Source: 'A Historic Firm Always on the Move', "Fine Arts Connoisseur", January 2007.
NFT: Non-Fungible Token NFTs (or “non-fungible tokens”) are a special kind of crypto-asset in which each token is unique (non-interchangeable) — as opposed to “fungible” assets like Bitcoin and dollar bills, which are all worth exactly the same amount. Every NFT is unique, and is stored on a blockchain, a form of digital ledger that can be sold and traded. NFTs can be used to authenticate ownership of digital assets like artworks, recordings, and virtual real estate or pets. Source: Website of coinbase.com and google.com
Nihonga A Japanese term referring to painting from about 1900 onwards, it originally meant 'Japanese painting.' However, now it has wider meaning and includes painting executed primarily in traditional materials such as ink and glue-based mineral pigments; supports such as paper and silk; and formats such as hanging scroll, hanging scroll or screen. Nihonga was coined in the 1880s as a means to distinguish the pictorial practice grounded in the native tradition of "shoga" (calligraphy and painting) from "yoga" or Western type painting that employed Western media, formats and modes of representation." Source; Sandra Buckley, "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Japanese Culture", 2001, p. 356. Submitted to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke, West Vancouver, Canada
NO!Art An art movement, it was founded in 1963 by Boris Lurie at Gallery Gertrude Stein as a distainful expression of current art trends such as Abstract Expressionism (shallow and decorative) and Pop Art (promoted consumerism). Art for NO!Art artists should address serious social issues such as racism, sexism, imperialism, etc. Lurie, a Holocaust survivor, was committed to these topics from his imprisonment during World War II at Buchenwald, and the name came about when the Gallery Gertrude Stein opened on 81st Street, and Lurie and other painters such as Sam Goodman and Stanley Fisher were thinking "never again" of the post-Holocaust period. Sources: ARTnews, March 2008, p. 70; Wikipedia/Boris Lurie
Non Figurative Artists' Association of Montreal Also known as "Association des Artists Non Figuratifs de Montreal", it was an alliance of Montreal abstract artists organized in 1956. In the words of Fernand Leduc, the first president, it was: ". . . a way of bringing together artists who would compel recognition from society for a type of art which it rejected; who would force museums to open their doors; who would force the powers that be to recognize the group.” Its membership of about 50 included Plasticiens*, Automatistes* and even a member of Painters Eleven* (Ray Mead). The only thing all the members had in common was interests in abstraction, however, most had exhibited in “Espace 55” (1955) at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and, most were exhibitors at Guido Molinari’s Galerie l’ Actuelle. The first exhibition was at Helene de Champlaine restaurant in 1956. Subsequent exhibitions included the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1957), the Ecole des Beaus-Arts (1959) and "Espace Dynamique" at Denyse Delrue Gallery (1960). As the members individually gained prominence, due in part to the success of the group, they drifted away and the organization disbanded in 1961. Sources: “A Concise History of Canadian Painting” (1973), by Dennis Reid and "Contemporary Canadian Art" (1983), by David Burnett & Marilyn Schiff (see both in AskART Book references). Prepared and contributed to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.
Non Objective An umbrella term, it refers to visual art completely devoid of recognizable objects and includes abstract expressionism, classical abstraction, suprematism and constructivism. It sometimes crosses over enough into abstraction or semi-realism that its true meaning gets clouded with confusion. In 1936, Hilla Rebay, Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, a repository of Non-Objective Painting, "began using the term "non-objective" to refer to painting by Wassily Kandinsky, Russian painter. Kandinsky used the wording “Non-objective” in his treatise, "On the Spiritual in Art." Other artists associated with Non-Objective painting are Kasimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian. Source: Ruth Pasquine,"The Politics of Redemption: Dynamic Symmetry and Theosophy in the Art of Emil Bisstram", p. 78
Nona Jean Hulsey Rumsey Buyers Choice Award Recognition by organizers of the Prix De West, annual exhibition of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, the award carries a cash award of three-thousand dollars for the artist whose entry is voted "the most popular work of art as chosen by the patrons attending the opening night". Recipients include Paul Calle, Curt Walters, Dan Gerhartz and Ron Riddick. Sources: The National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; AskART database
Norman Wait Harris Silver Medal An exhibition award of the Art Institute of Chicago, it carryies a prize of five-hundred dollars. Winners included Ross Moffatt. Source: Matthew Bakkom Collection, St. Paul, Minnesota
North Shore Arts Association of Gloucester An organization in Gloucester, Massachusetts, it dates to incorporation on December, 2, 1922, and reflects the artistic life of Cape Ann, Gloucester, Annisquam, Magnolia and Rockport. Founding artist members included William Atwood, Paul Cornoyer, Cecelia Beaux, George Noyes, Walter Palmer, Hugh Breckenridge and Frederick Mulhaupt. Today's artist membership numbers over 400 persons, and has many non-artist members as well. Early members were inspired by the paintings they saw of the area by Fitz Henry Lane, Francis Silva, William Trost Richards, Winslow Homer and others. Exhibitions were first held in the lobbies of summer hotels, and eventually the Association occupied a structure that was built for it on land overlooking Gloucester's inner harbor and donated by Thomas E. Reed. Source: Ted Tysver, Historian, North Shore Arts Association, http://www.nsarts.org/History.html
Northern California Painters Group Founded in 2001, it consists of nine members who are plein-air painters and teaching associates at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco. They hold group exhibitions from time to time, most recently (2003) at William Lester Gallery in Pt. Reyes, California. There are no plans to increase the membership size of the group as they want to maintain exclusivity. Members are Brian Blood, Laurie Kersey, Hui Han Liu (pronounced wee han loo), William (Bill) Maughan, Carolyn Meyer, Douglas Morgan, Craig Nelson, John Poon, and Randal Sexton. Source: Gary Stanley, ArtSanDiego Gallery, San Diego, CA
Northern Renaissance See Renaissance
Northern School Fine art painters in England led by Laurence Stephen Lowry and including Harry Rutherford, they depicted post-industrial scenes around Northwest England such as Manchester. Source: Wikipedia, 2021
Northwest Rendezvous Group Northwest Rendezvous Group of Artists (NWR) traces its roots to 1972 and the first Rendezvous of Western Art held at the Montana Historical Society. Several of the biggest names in Western Art participated in that fledgling show such as Joe Beeler, John Clymer, Fred Fellows, J.K. Ralston, Bob Scriver and Gordon Snidow. Sales were slim but an annual event came from it. A few years after its inception, Jack Hines and Jessica Zemsky contacted Bob Morgan about some ideas they had for the show’s continuation. An idea that kept recurring was of forming a solid core of artists, all professionals, into a group so that there would be twenty or thirty artists on board automatically. Morgan used his knowledge of artists in the West and Hines and Zemsky used their knowledge of fine artists in the East who would probably want to participate. Thus, the Northwest Rendezvous of Artists was born. It was determined that membership would be by invitation only and only after acceptance by the membership, thus guaranteeing quality, versatility and continuity for the Group. It was also agreed that each year “guest artists” would be selected to show with the Group and from these guests would come new members. That policy is still in force today. After a period of time, sponsorship of Rendezvous by the Historical Society ended and the Helena Arts Council became the sponsor. Then the Arts Council and NWR had a parting of the ways and the show moved to Park City, Utah for 4 years. In 1997 there was no show. From the return to Helena in 1998, sales were brisk and the partnership of the Civic Center Board and the Montana Historical Society both benefited from their efforts. Funds from the show went to the Civic Center Improvement Fund and the Montana Historical Society Art Acquisition Fund. This partnership lasted until 2008 and at that time the Civic Center Board pulled out and the Montana Historical Society undertook sponsorship on their own. The Historical Society sponsorship lasted thru 2012. A new chapter of the NWR Group continues on. The Group currently consists of 38 members. Source: 'Northwest Rendezvous Group', http://nwrart.com/about
Northwest School Based in Skagit County, Washington and the Seattle area, it was an art movement of the 1930s and 1940s that reflected diffuse lighting and earthy tones of the area. Artists were Guy Anderson, Kenneth Callahan, Morris Graves and Mark Tobey. The designation, Northwest School, came when LIFE magazine in 1953 had a feature on them--the first national attention given to non-Native American artists of that region. Source: 'Northwest School,' "Wikipedia," Jun. 2016
Northwest Watercolor Society An organization founded in Seattle, Washington in 1939, the purpose was encouragement of artists interested in watercolor as a medium and to sponsor exhibitions of watercolor painting. The place for monthly meetings, held every second Tuesday, was Studio Gallery at 533 Medical Arts Building. Now based in Bellevue, Washington, NWS continues into the 21st Century with lectures and workshops and the addition of a growing library of instructional video tapes. In 1992, the NWS expanded its membership beyond the region to include interested, qualified persons in the United States and Canada. Early members included Louise Ladd and Blanche Morgan Losey. Sources: Robert Ladd, son of Louise Ladd; website of the NWS: http://www.nwws.org/officers_committees.php
Nose Art / Tail Art Images on the noses and tails of aircraft, it is a type of graffiti and serves as moral boosters and expression toward the aircraft by crew members. The quality of the ‘artwork’ varied according to the art skills of available Nose and Tail artists. Ideas for subjects "came from a variety of sources such as girlfriends, newspaper and magazine images, special events or wishes. Most remembered are the pin-up girls, such as those painted by Illinois artist Samuel Rodman (1906-1979. Today nose and Tail Art Designs, converted into badges, are very collectible. The tradition dates back to ancient times when warriors decorated their shields, on whom they had the same kind of self-protective reliance as servicemen on bomb patrols did to their airplanes. These pilots grew to think of their aircraft as someone to whom they talked and totally relied upon and not "as just a B17, or just a serial number." It was a "being" with personality and gender, expressed by the decoration on its Nose or Tail. Sources: http://www.stewart-aviation.co.uk/noseart.html; Vanderpoel Art Association.
Notsch Circle / Notscher Kreis A group of early 20th-century German artists who, gathering in the small town of Notsch in the Gailtal Valley of southern Austria, they developed a regional style of Expressionism. Among the group were Anton Kolig, Sebastion Isepp, Franz Wiegle and Anton Mahringer. Source: Richard Rhoda Fine Art, German Wikipedia, AskART biography of Anton Kolig.
Nouveau Realisme See New Realism
Nouveau Realisme, New Realism A French Pop Art movement, it was founded in 1960 by Pierre Restany, an art critic, and participants included Jean Tinguely, Niki de Saint Phalle, Yves Klein, Christo Javacheff, Daniel Spoerri and Arman Fernandez. Its artists made extensive use of collage and assemblage, "using real objects incorporated directly into the work"...Source: Tate Collection, http://www.tate.org.uk/collections/glossary/definition.jsp?entryId=204
November Group A group of German expressionist artists and architects, they formed the Group on 3 December 1918. They took their name from the month of the German Revolution. The group was led by Max Pechstein and César Klein. Linked less by their styles of art than by shared socialist values, the group campaigned for radical artists to have a greater say in such issues as the organization of art schools, and new laws around the arts. The artists of the November Group described themselves as radical and revolutionary. Their work, like that of the similar Arbeitsrat für Kunst, aimed to support a socialist revolution in Germany. A key objective of the group was the union of art and the people. Furthermore, the group tried to influence public and cultural aspects of society. In 1921, artists from the left wing of the November Group called for an end to the "bourgeois development" of the artists. The declaration was signed by Otto Dix, George Grosz, Raoul Hausmann, John Heartfield, Hannah Höch, Rudolf Schlichter and Georg Scholz. In 1922, the decentralized November Group restructured away from a conglomeration of local groups and became part of the "Cartel of advanced artistic groups in Germany" (Kartell fortschrittlicher Künstlergruppen in Deutschland). Source: Wikipedia
Nowa Huta Group See Nowohucka Group
Nowohucka Group A Krakow Poland based group of artists, known originally as the Grupa-5, and sometimes as Grupa Nowohucka, members were Julian Jonczyk, Witold Urbanowicz, Danuta Urbanowicz, Janusz Tarabuta and Jerzy Wronski. Founded in 1956, and joined together until March 1961 and chose their name from a neighborhood in Krakow where they all lived. Objective of Nowohucka was to resolve artistic problems in a contemporary way; to underline the importance of individual creativity and discoveries in the field of the arts; to strengthened their creativity by an exchange of experiences and ideas; to put an emphasis on the constant development of Polish Avant-Garde art; and promote it within a new audience – the working class." In other words, they were rebelling against traditional, academic, "pretty" art collected mostly by relatively elite persons. Focused on personal contemplation and interpretations of experience they worked with thick layers of paint, intermixed raw materials, and strove for transformation and expression linked to individual experiences especially linked to brutality of World War II. The last exhibition of Nowohucka Group was at the Grabowski Gallery in London in 1962. Source: Website of Cluture.pl, 2021
Nuclear Art Artwork exploring nuclear power, the movement was founded in Italy in the late 1950s by Enrico Baj. Source: www.tennerfilms.com/index.php/nuclear-art

Top