Nathan Oliveira Art
American, 1928-2010
Born 1928, Oakland, California; Died 2010, Stanford, California.
Nathan Oliveira was a leading member of the second generation of the Bay Area figurative painters. He is best known for his brilliantly colored figurative and landscape paintings as well as intricate bronze sculptures with colorful patinas. Oliveira achieved national prominence fusing Abstract Expressionism and figuration in psychologically charged canvases that explored human isolation and alienation. In 1959, he was the youngest painter included in the important exhibition New Images of Man at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which also featured works by Francis Bacon, Alberto Giacometti, Richard Diebenkorn, and Jackson Pollack. Overnight, Oliveira found wide acclaim for his nervous human images, built up with thick layers of scuffed and scratched paint.
Nathan Oliveira employed a bravura, brushy style of paint application. His abstracted figures and landscapes, however, reflected an affinity with the darker vision of European artists like Oskar Kokoschka and Edvard Munch or more nearly contemporary artists like Alberto Giacometti and Francis Bacon, who shared his sense of human conflict and existential angst. Particularly influential was the German painter Max Beckmann, with whom he studied briefly.
Nathan Oliveira had solo exhibitions in major museums all over the world. His paintings are held in the collections of many distinguished institutions, including the Art Institute of Chicago; the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh; the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Tate Modern, London, among others.to
1
2
4
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
6
1
1
1
2
1
7
4
4
3
2
2
1
1
1
1
5
4
4
4
1
8
10,222
2,785
2,504
1,384
3
7
Artist: Nathan Oliveira
Nude Stepping from the Carpet
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Nathan Oliveira. "Nude Stepping from the Carpet" is a contemporary painting, oil on canvas in a palette of reds, greens, and beiges by Bay Area figurative artist Nathan Oliveira. The artwork is signed in the lower right, "N Oliveira 62".
During the early years, Oliveira’s lone figures often suggest an existential angst similar to that of Giacometti, but there is also a weightlessness and a transcendent aura that envelopes these figures; they appear as elemental, universal and eternal projections of selfless consciousness better understood within the bodiless realm of metaphysics. These qualities would remain in his work throughout his long career, yet he would find other themes to explore — the natural world where the essential nature of birds and animals exist in equal profundity with their human counterparts, the transient world of evanescent perception when memory must reconstruct momentary experience, and later, the ‘site’ paintings and monoprints that suggest the abandoned remnants of a long-lost civilization or tribe uncovered at an archeological dig.
Nathan Oliveira has left us with a legacy of art that will surely remain untarnished by time or changing trends. His work exists within a realm rarely achieved by artists striving in a similar mode of expression. Unclouded by ego or wayward sentiment, it is also in the warmth and humble nature...
Category
Mid-20th Century Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Untitled
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Nathan Oliveira. "Untitled" is a Bay Area Figurative Painting, oil on canvas in a brown and tan palette by American artist Nathan Oliveira. The artwork is signed in the lower right, "Oliveira 64”.
A Californian whose work is of preeminent importance during the post war period, Oliveira is most often associated with Park, Diebenkorn and the other artists with whom he sketched early in his career. Yet it was not an oversight when Oakland Museum director Paul Mills chose not to include Oliveira in the 1957 exhibition “Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting.” All came to figuration by initiating a sophisticated dialogue with abstraction, yet it is Oliveira, the often characterized ambivalent loner among Bay Area artists whose work is most often compared to Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon, or Willem de Kooning with whom he shared walls and space at The Images of Man exhibition held in New York at the Museum of Modern Art in 1959.
During the early years, Oliveira’s lone figures often suggested an existential angst similar to that of Giacometti, but there was also a weightlessness and a transcendent aura that envelopes these figures; they appear as elemental, universal and eternal projections of selfless consciousness better understood within the bodiless realm of metaphysics. These qualities would remain in his work throughout his long career, yet he would find other themes to explore — the natural world where the essential nature of birds and animals exist in equal profundity with their human counterparts, the transient world of evanescent perception when memory must reconstruct momentary experience, and later, the ‘site’ paintings and monoprints that suggest the abandoned remnants of a long-lost civilization or tribe uncovered at an archeological dig.
Through and through, flesh to bones, and bones to dust Nathan Oliveira has left us with a legacy of art that will surely remain untarnished by time or changing trends. His work exists within a realm rarely achieved by artists striving in a similar mode of expression. Unclouded by ego or wayward sentiment, it is also in the warmth and humble nature...
Category
Late 20th Century Post-War Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$125,000
Figure with Blue Eyes
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in Palm Desert, CA
A painting by Nathan Oliveira. "Figure with Blue Eyes" is a figurative painting, oil on canvas in a palette of browns and creams with a pop of blue by Bay Area Figurative artist Nath...
Category
Late 20th Century Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Miramar I
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Artwork title: Miramar
IArtist name: Nathan Oliveira
Date created: 1969
Classification: print
Medium: lithograph
Edition: 75
Dimensions: 29 3/8 × 22 1/8 in. (74.6 × 56.2 cm)
Signed...
Category
1960s Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Lithograph
Stelae No. 5
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in Palm Desert, CA
"Stelae No. 5" is a painting by Bay Area Figurative artist Nathan Oliveira. The painting is signed and dated lower right, "Oliveira 98". The framed piece measures 67 1/2 x 55 3/4 x 2 in.
A Californian whose work is of preeminent importance during the post war period, Oliveira is most often associated with Park, Diebenkorn and the other artists with whom he sketched early in his career. Yet it was not an oversight when Oakland Museum director Paul Mills chose not to include Oliveira in the 1957 exhibition “Contemporary Bay Area Figurative Painting.” All came to figuration by initiating a sophisticated dialogue with abstraction, yet it is Oliveira, the often characterized ambivalent loner among Bay Area artists whose work is most often compared to Alberto Giacometti, Francis Bacon, or Willem de Kooning with whom he shared walls and space at The Images of Man exhibition held in New York at the Museum of Modern Art in 1959.
During the early years, Oliveira’s lone figures often suggested an existential angst similar to that of Giacometti, but there was also a weightlessness and a transcendent aura that envelopes these figures; they appear as elemental, universal and eternal projections of selfless consciousness better understood within the bodiless realm of metaphysics. These qualities would remain in his work throughout his long career, yet he would find other themes to explore — the natural world where the essential nature of birds and animals exist in equal profundity with their human counterparts, the transient world of evanescent perception when memory must reconstruct momentary experience, and later, the ‘site’ paintings and monoprints that suggest the abandoned remnants of a long-lost civilization or tribe uncovered at an archeological dig.
Through and through, flesh to bones, and bones to dust Nathan Oliveira has left us with a legacy of art that will surely remain untarnished by time or changing trends. His work exists within a realm rarely achieved by artists striving in a similar mode of expression. Unclouded by ego or wayward sentiment, it is also in the warmth and humble nature...
Category
1990s Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Head
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Watercolor, gouache, ink wash, crayon, and pencil on paper
Category
1950s Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Crayon, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil
Price Upon Request
Pessoa
s Sleigh II
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Monotype
Price Upon Request
Related Items
Keith Haring Rain Dance 1985 (Keith Haring posters)
By Keith Haring
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Keith Haring Rain Dance 1985:
RARE original 1980s Keith Haring illustrated poster announcement for a legendary Keith Haring UNICEF benefit party at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage in 1985. An event organized & curated by Keith Haring; with cohosts including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein & more. A event organized by Haring on behalf of UNICEF’s African Emergency Relief Fund. Beautifully combines Haring’s trademark kinetic figures set amidst a standout blue and black color-way. Rare.
Medium: Offset lithograph in colors on smooth wove paper. 1985.
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches (folded open).
Fair overall vintage condition. Minor wear to center fold-line; minor separation to the mid far-left edge; surface loss lower left. Otherwise well-preserved.
Printed signature, ‘Keith Haring 1985’ on lower right from a scarce edition of unknown.
Looks fantastic framed.
More on Keith Haring Rain Dance:
Curated and organized by Keith Haring, Rain Dance was a 1985 benefit for UNICEF’s African Emergency Relief Fund. Participating artists famously included: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Larry Levan, Fred Brathwaite, Christo, Francesco Clemente, George Condo, Crash, Futura 2000, Jenny Holzer, John Lennon, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Brice Marden, Robert Morris, Yoko Ono, Lee Quiñones, Robert Rauschenberg, Kenny Scharf, Julian Schnabel, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Tseng Kwong Chi, and Andy Warhol.
_
Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990), a Neo-Pop and Graffiti artist, had a short but prolific career centered on a vision to unite “high art,” urban aesthetics, and public spaces using humorous, irreverent, and poignant works. Born in Pennsylvania, Haring attended the Ivy School of Art in Pittsburgh for two years, planning to become a commercial artist. He found this path unsatisfying, and instead chose to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he met fellow artists Jean Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf. Haring immersed himself in the culture of the city’s streets and clubs, and, in 1980, began covering the blank billboards on subway station walls with his Subway drawings in chalk.
Haring’s bold public art attracted the attention of several galleries, and, by the early 1980s, he was painting Neo-Pop works and large murals full time. In an effort to make his art widely accessible, Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 in downtown New York, selling commercial items adorned with his signature, cartoonish imagery. Haring combined graffiti, hip-hop, and urban aesthetics, frequently depicting animals, figures, commercial icons, sexual imagery, and childlike motifs in pieces that were both playful and concerned with social issues.
His work became increasingly confrontational following his 1987 diagnosis of AIDS. Haring resolved to work harder than ever in his remaining years, creating pieces with a fervent speed and devoting his art to social action in addition to his personal expression. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, whose goal is to promote art programs and public spaces for children, and to raise awareness about AIDS.
Haring died on February 16, 1990 in New York at the age of 31. In addition to hundreds of exhibitions held during his lifetime, Haring has been the subject of numerous retrospectives in New York, San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Berlin since his death.
Related Categories:
Keith Haring posters. Keith Haring activist poster. Keith Haring Dancers. Street art. Graffiti. 1980s. Keith Haring Larry Levan. Keith Haring Paradise Garage...
Category
1980s Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Lithograph, Offset
Carol Moreno, Contemporary Landscape Jungle Green Landscape Diptych, 2025
Located in Barcelona, Barcelona
The total size of the two works is 90x180 cm.
At Escat Gallery we are committed to maintaining the highest standards of trust and professionalism for our collectors. Every artwork i...
Category
2010s Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Acrylic, Oil
$7,119
H 35.44 in W 70.87 in D 1.58 in
Children Snow Sledding in Central Park - New Yorker Cover Study
Located in Miami, FL
Hungarian/American artist/illustrator depicts a charming scene of sledding in the snow in Central Park. The work is abstract in its design as it's functional in its narrative - Unpublished New Yorker...
Category
1940s Modern Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Charcoal, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil
$15,000
H 16.85 in W 12.25 in
“Untitled (Round Hill Beach, Buzzards Bay), 1899” Dartmouth MA Impressionist
Located in Yardley, PA
A beautiful coastal painting by Massachusetts artist Joseph H. Greenwood, known for his evocative New England landscapes. This work captures the quiet charm of the Dartmouth coast ne...
Category
1890s American Impressionist Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$5,500
H 19.5 in W 27.5 in D 3 in
original lithograph
By Pierre Alechinsky
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1960 for the art revue XXe Siecle (No. 14) and published in Paris by San Lazzaro. Size: 12 1/8 x 9 1/8 inches (308 x 230 mm). Not signed.
Con...
Category
1960s Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Lithograph
Naturalistic Dutch painting - Late 19th century landscape painting - Windmill
Located in Varmo, IT
Dutch painter (late 19th century) - Landscape with windmill.
30 x 40 cm without frame, 42 x 52 cm with frame.
Antique oil painting on panel, in gilded wooden frame (not signed).
C...
Category
Late 19th Century Naturalistic Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
$474 Sale Price
66% Off
H 16.54 in W 20.48 in
"Nu" Impressionist Interior Seated Nude Female Figure Oil Painting on Canvas
By Maryse Ducaire Roque
Located in New York, NY
A Mid-20th Century charming oil painting depicting a seated nude woman in a whimsical interior scene, Ducaire was known for her charming intimate figurative scenes portraying female ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Post-Impressionist Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
$2,500
H 19.25 in W 17.25 in D 2 in
original lithograph
By Yaacov Agam
Located in Henderson, NV
Medium: original lithograph. Printed in 1980 for the art revue XXe Siecle and published in Paris by San Lazzaro. Size: 12 1/4 x 9 1/8 inches (310 x 232 mm). Not signed.
Category
1980s Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Lithograph
"Blueberry Pancakes", girl with a basket of blueberries and dog tap maple tree
By Fred Calleri
Located in Edgartown, MA
Fred Calleri was born in Maryland and has slowly moved westward towards his current home in Santa Barbara, California. On his way, he earned an Illustration and Graphic Design degree...
Category
2010s Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
"Island Hopping" girl sits in coin operated fish before map of Marthas Vineyard
By Fred Calleri
Located in Edgartown, MA
Fred Calleri was born in Maryland and has slowly moved westward towards his current home in Santa Barbara, California. On his way, he earned an Illustration and Graphic Design degree...
Category
2010s Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
17th Century French Old Master Oil Painting Classical Robed Semi Nude Figures
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
17th century French School
circle of Nicolas Poussin (French 1594-1665)
"Figures in Arcadia"
oil on canvas, unframed
canvas: 16 x 20 inches
provenance: private collection, England
condition: very good and sound condition
Nicolas Poussin was a renowned French painter of the 17th century. He is considered one of the greatest figures of classical French Baroque art...
Category
17th Century Old Masters Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
$6,011 Sale Price
20% Off
H 16 in W 20 in
Abstract Expressionist Figurative -- Seated Nude Woman
Located in Soquel, CA
Wonderful abstract expressionist nude with heavy impasto of seated woman. Bay area find. Signed on verso "Swan," circa 1990. Unframed. Image size: 24"H x 18"W.
Category
1990s Abstract Expressionist Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Canvas, Oil
Previously Available Items
Sleeping Female Nude
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in New York, NY
Nathan Oliveira's "Female Sleeping Nude" is a captivating artwork that elegantly combines style, technique, and layered interpretation, offering a rich and multifaceted experience to...
Category
1960s Abstract Expressionist Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Watercolor, Graphite
Nathan Oliveira
Nude
Limited Edition Signed Lithograph Print
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Rafael, CA
Nathan Oliveira (American, 1928-2010)
Nude, 2004
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Edition 9/10
Signed, numbered, and dated in pencil along lower edge
(Unframed) Sheet: 22-1/2 x 18-...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Lithograph
Copper Plate Nude II (2) 2001. Aquatint - signed, dated front - Nathan Oliveira
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in Burlingame, CA
Vivid and beautiful female figurative nude with lifted arms by Nathan Oliveira - color sugar lift and spit bite aquatints, aquatint and texture from the back of a discarded plate 23 ...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Expressionist Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Aquatint
Nathan OliveiraCopper Plate Nude II (2) 2001. Aquatint - signed, dated front - Nathan Oliveira, 2001
H 27.75 in W 23 in D 1.5 in
Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
At The ADAA Art Show - Figure with Arm Up
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Revisited Standing Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Skating Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Untitled Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Standing Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Untitled Standing Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Figure with Shoe
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Materials
Oil, Canvas
Head #1
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category
Nathan Oliveira Art
Nathan Oliveira art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Nathan Oliveira art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Nathan Oliveira in paint, canvas, fabric and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the post-war style. Not every interior allows for large Nathan Oliveira art, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Arne Hiersoux, Paul Wonner, and William Theophilus Brown. Nathan Oliveira art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $55,000 and tops out at $135,000, while the average work can sell for $115,000.