Nell Blaine Art
American, 1922-1996
Nell Blaine, painter of still lifes and landscapes in brilliant colors, created abstract work that gives the appearance of being done in a carefree, totally lighthearted manner but in fact is the result of years of disciplined study. It is also an effect achieved after rehabilitation from polio, which nearly took her life.
Suffering a paralyzed right hand, she taught herself to paint with her left hand, and she devoted much time to applying colors, some times as many as fifty varieties. She attributed her fascination with color with its discovery when she was two years old and corrective eye surgery allowed her to see color for the first time.
Blaine was raised in the Richmond, Virginia, where she grew to hate the prevalent racial discrimination and left home at an early age. In high school, she was skilled enough to begin selling her artwork, which was mostly posters and portraits. She attended the Richmond School of Art, now Virginia Commonwealth University, between 1939 and 1942 but left its classical realist curriculum when one of the instructors introduced her to modern art.
She used money she had earned from commercial art and went to New York and studied with Hans Hofmann, teacher of Abstract Expressionism. Shortly after, she married a jazz musician and immersed herself in the world of jazz, beating drums and improvising expressive dances, and associating with Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, and Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac. Her paintings of that time reflect her strong developing sense of relationship between jazz and abstract art.
In 1944 at age twenty two, she became the youngest member of the American Abstract Artists and exhibited hard-edged geometric paintings, mostly black and white with accents of bright colors. She joined a cooperative of abstract artists and worked so hard at organizing shows that some referred to it as the Blaine Street Gallery.
She was a strong personality who had special influence on Larry Rivers and Jane Freilicher and appeared to thrive in the New York art scene of the 1940s. However, she decided that her lifestyle was unhealthy, and she left the city, had a period of seclusion, and then went to France where she admired the work of Gustave Courbet, Jean Antoine Watteau, Eugene Delacroix, and Nicholas Poussin and took up figurative art in an abstract style.
She became known as a "painterly realist," and added landscapes and interiors to her subject matter. She earned fellowships to Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony and began spending at least half the year in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She also traveled in Mexico.
In 1959 on the island of Mykonos, Greece, she had polio. Her New York art friends in an exhibition of seventy-one artists raised money for extensive treatment at Mount Sinai Hospital. After recovery, she settled in a studio on Riverside Drive, spent her summers in Gloucester, and painted from her wheelchair. She died in 1996.(Biography provided by Lincoln Glenn)
to
8
5
1
7
1
2
3
3
Overall Height
to
Overall Width
to
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
1
2
3
1
21
6,997
3,373
2,513
1,212
6
5
4
4
1
Artist: Nell Blaine
Beach at Malcesine
By Nell Blaine
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Provenance: Corporate Art Collection
Nell Blaine, painter of still lifes and landscapes in brilliant colors, created abstract work that gives the appearance of being done in a carefree, totally lighthearted manner but in fact is the result of years of disciplined study. It is also an effect achieved after rehabilitation from polio, which nearly took her life.
Suffering a paralyzed right hand, she taught herself to paint with her left hand, and she devoted much time to applying colors, some times as many as fifty varieties. She attributed her fascination with color with its discovery when she was two years old and corrective eye surgery allowed her to see color for the first time.
Blaine was raised in the Richmond, Virginia, where she grew to hate the prevalent racial discrimination and left home at an early age. In high school, she was skilled enough to begin selling her artwork, which was mostly posters and portraits. She attended the Richmond School of Art, now Virginia Commonwealth University, between 1939 and 1942 but left its classical realist curriculum when one of the instructors introduced her to modern art.
She used money she had earned from commercial art and went to New York and studied with Hans Hofmann, teacher of Abstract Expressionism. Shortly after, she married a jazz musician and immersed herself in the world of jazz, beating drums and improvising expressive dances, and associating with Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, and Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac. Her paintings of that time reflect her strong developing sense of relationship between jazz and abstract art.
In 1944 at age twenty two, she became the youngest member of the American Abstract Artists and exhibited hard-edged geometric paintings, mostly black and white with accents of bright colors. She joined a cooperative of abstract artists and worked so hard at organizing shows that some referred to it as the Blaine Street Gallery.
She was a strong personality who had special influence on Larry Rivers and Jane Freilicher and appeared to thrive in the New York art scene of the 1940s. However, she decided that her lifestyle was unhealthy, and she left the city, had a period of seclusion, and then went to France where she admired the work of Gustave Courbet, Jean Antoine Watteau, Eugene Delacroix, and Nicholas Poussin and took up figurative art in an abstract style.
She became known as a "painterly realist," and added landscapes and interiors to her subject matter. She earned fellowships to Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony and began spending at least half the year in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She also traveled in Mexico.
In 1959 on the island of Mykonos, Greece, she had polio. Her New York art friends in an exhibition of seventy-one artists raised money for extensive treatment at Mount Sinai Hospital. After recovery, she settled in a studio on Riverside Drive, spent her summers in Gloucester, and painted from her wheelchair. She died in 1996.
Source:
Charlotte Streifer Rubinstein, American Women Artists
Biography from Hess Fine Art & Auctions
Nell Blaine is sometimes called a "painterly realist. This term belies her beginnings in abstract expressionism. She studied with Hans Hofmann in the mid-1940s and was fascinated by the geometric painting of Mondrian. By the late 1950s she turned towards representation. This change was reinforced when she met the French painter Jean Helion. He too had returned to representation.
There is French flavor to Blaine's work in the Fauve-like use of pure color. Her typical subject matter is still life, landscapes and gardens. In some of her still life Matisse is brought to mind, but her style could not be mistaken for French. It has the unmistakable free brushstroke of the action painters, imbued with awe for the beauty of nature. Her preference is the use of pure color, cobalt violet being her favorite, and she reportedly said she "enjoy(s) color more than words". She respects the traditions of composition and structure, and is influenced by French Impressionism in terms of light and subject matter.
Nell Blaine, painter of still lifes and landscapes in brilliant colors, created abstract work that not only is the result of years of disciplined study but was achieved after rehabilitation from polio. She taught herself to paint with her left hand because she suffered a paralyzed right hand. She devoted much time to applying colors, some times as many as fifty varieties. She attributed her fascination with color with its discovery to corrective eye surgery she had when she was two years old. This operation allowed her to see color for the first time.
Nell Blaine was raised in Richmond, Virginia. In high school, she was skilled enough to begin selling her artwork, which consisted mostly of posters and portraits. She attended the Richmond School of Art, now Virginia Commonwealth University, between 1939 and 1942 but left when introduced to modern art. She used money she had earned and went to New York and studied with Hans Hofmann. Six months after she arrived in New York, Blaine married Bill Bass...
Category
1980s Abstract Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Pastel, Watercolor
The Harbor From Banner Hill
By Nell Blaine
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nell Blaine (1922-1996) American
Original India Ink and Wash titled "The Harbor from Banner Hill"
The sight size is 17 x 27 inches.
Signed and dated 1986 lower right and again verso...
Category
1980s Abstract Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
India Ink, Watercolor
Beach at Malcesine
By Nell Blaine
Located in Los Angeles, CA
Nell Blaine, painter of still lifes and landscapes in brilliant colors, created abstract work that gives the appearance of being done in a carefree, totally lighthearted manner but i...
Category
1980s American Modern Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Pastel, Watercolor
Daureen, II
By Nell Blaine
Located in Fairlawn, OH
Daureen, II
Etching, 1969
Signed in pencil lower right
Edition: 28 (17/28)
Condition: Excellent
Two hinges from previous matting
Blaine studied etching at Atelier 17 in New York and considered one of their distinguished alums.
"Blaine was foremost an abstract painter, first a student of Theresa Pollak...
Category
1960s Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Etching
Touch of Fall watercolor and pastel painting by Nell Blaine
By Nell Blaine
Located in Hudson, NY
Signed "Nell Blaine" upper left in pencil. Signed, titled, dated verso on sheet. Signed, titled, dated verso on backing panel.
The artist. Exhibited at Fischbach Gallery, NYC, in 1994 (Gallery label verso, and wall label affixed verso). Purchased by private collectors c.1994. By descent. Tibor de Nagy Gallery, NYC (the artist's estate representative), exhibited 2020 (label verso).
Exhibited at Fischbach Gallery, NYC, in 1994 (Gallery label verso, and wall label affixed verso). Tibor de Nagy Gallery, NYC (the artist's estate representative), exhibited 2020 (label verso).
From her November 15, 1996 NYT obituary:
Nell Blaine, a widely respected New York landscape painter and watercolorist, died yesterday at Mount Sinai Hospital. She was 74 and had homes in Manhattan and Gloucester, Mass. Ms. Blaine, who had been hospitalized since July, had been confined to a wheelchair since 1959, when she contracted polio.
Ms. Blaine was born in Richmond, Va., in 1922, and first studied at the Richmond School of Art, now part of Virginia Commonwealth University. She moved to New York in 1942 to study painting with Hans Hofmann and later studied etching and engraving at Atelier 17 with Stanley William Hayter.
During her first years in New York, her work, which had previously been tightly realist, turned abstract, inspired by Mondrian, Leger and Jean Helion. At one time she was the youngest member of the American Abstract Artists. She was also a founding member of the Jane Street Gallery, one of Manhattan's earliest artists' cooperatives, and had her first solo show there in 1945.
Just as Ms. Blaine was becoming known as a promising abstract painter, and gaining the admiration of such critics as Clement Greenberg, she started to shift back to representation. Inspired in part by a trip with Larry Rivers in 1950 to Paris, where she was especially impressed by the work of Vuillard and Bonnard, she immersed herself in the tradition of 19th-century European painting.
From the mid-1950's, she cultivated an increasingly painterly and colorful style, usually working directly from nature, or still life, with particular emphasis on the forms and hues of flowers. Her work retained a sense of all-over structure and pulsating energy that she nonetheless credited to abstract art. ''It all goes back to Mondrian,'' she would say.
In the 1950's, Ms. Blaine was prominent among a circle of New York artists and poets that included John Ashbery, Frank O'Hara, Kenneth Koch, Mr. Rivers, Jane Freilicher, Leland Bell, Louisa Matthiasdottir, Robert De Niro Sr. and Rudy Burckhardt. She had her first solo show of representational work at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1953 and was represented by the Poindexter Gallery until it closed in 1978, and, in recent years, by the Fischbach Gallery. During the 1950's she supported herself as a commercial artist, designing brochures for art galleries. In 1955, she designed the original logo, column heads and layout for The Village Voice.
In 1957, Ms. Blaine was featured in Life magazine as one of five leading young female artists in America. In 1959, after several months of traveling and painting in Greece, she contracted severe bulbar polio on the island of Mykonos. ''To Nell Blaine,'' an exhibition organized at Poindexter to raise money for her hospital bills, included the work of 79 artists, including Saul Steinberg, Robert Motherwell, Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, Mr. Rivers, Ms. Freilicher and Robert Rauschenberg.
After eight months in a New York hospital, including five months in an iron lung...
Category
1990s Abstract Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Paper, Watercolor, Pastel
Free Lancer
By Nell Blaine
Located in Carmel-by-the-sea, CA
Beautiful watercolor by Nell Blaine, in perfect condition.
Framing options available.
More photos available upon request.
Nell Blaine was an American artist best known for her brightly colored oils and watercolors. Painted in a loosely brushed style, her depictions of still lifes and landscapes have a casual yet poignant quality, similar to the works of Fairfield Porter, Louisa Matthíasdóttir...
Category
1950s Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Watercolor
Nell Blair Walden Blaine "Standing Figure" Pastel Drawing, circa 1967
By Nell Blaine
Located in San Francisco, CA
Nell Blair Walden Blaine (1922-1996) "Standing Figure" pastel drawing circa 1967
A Fine original pastel portrait of a standing nude figure by listed artist Nell Blaine.
Dimensions ...
Category
Mid-20th Century Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Pastel
Summer, Quaker Hill oil painting by Nell Blaine
By Nell Blaine
Located in Hudson, NY
This work by Nell Blaine was exhibited at the Poindexter Gallery, as well as the Tibor de Nagy Gallery, both in New York City. It is signed lower left, and signed, titled, and dated ...
Category
1960s American Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Oil, Board
Related Items
'Sunset Landscape', Hamburg, Rivne, Volhynia, Rivne Museum
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, 'G. Kosmiadi' for Georg Kosmiadi (Ukranian-German, 1886-1967) and dated, '66'; additionally signed verso, 'Georg Kosmiadi', inscribed with serial number and dated, '20/9/66'.
Georg Kosmiadi was a resident of Rivne before moving to Hamburg in 1940 where he worked as an art teacher. Kosmiadi exhibited at the Rivne Regional Museum and a regional art...
Category
1960s Abstract Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Paper, Gouache
"Claude Renoir Fils de l'Artiste, de Profil”
By Pierre Auguste Renoir
Located in Southampton, NY
Original etching on archival laid paper of Claude Renoir the son of Pierre August Renoir.
Pierre Auguste Renoir (French 1841-1919) "Claude Renoir Fils ...
Category
Early 1900s Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Etching, Laid Paper
"Eternal Problem" - 1924 Etching on Paper
Located in Soquel, CA
"Eternal Problem" - 1924 Etching on Paper
Etching on paper titled "Eternal Problem" by Elias M. Grossman (American, 1898-1947). A bearded rabbi is portrayed thinking with his hand p...
Category
1920s American Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Paper, Ink, Etching
REVERIE AT THE MARSH OF EPISY
Located in THOMERY, FR
This series of paintings is inspired by the relationship between the artist and the Fontainebleau forest region. Here we're talking about the Episy marsh, a sensitive, protected natu...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Handmade Paper, Watercolor, Pastel
Dance at Gopsmor /// Impressionist Swedish Anders Zorn Etching Party Antique
By Anders Zorn
Located in Saint Augustine, FL
Artist: Anders Zorn (Swedish, 1860-1920)
Title: "Dance at Gopsmor"
*Signed by Zorn in pencil lower right. It is also signed and dated in the plate (printed signature) lower left
Year: 1906 (second state of two)
Medium: Original Etching on cream Van Gelder Zonen laid paper
Limited edition: approx. 50 impressions
Printer: the artist Zorn himself, Mora, Sweden
Publisher: the artist Zorn himself, Mora, Sweden
Reference: Asplund No. 197; Hjert & Hjert No. 205; Loys Delteil No. 192
Framing: Recently framed in a gold ornate moulding and fabric matting from Holland. All archival
Framed size: 22.75" x 18.25"
Sheet size (irregular margins): 16.5" x 11"
Image size: 11.88" x 7.75"
Condition: A strong impression in very good condition
Very rare
Notes:
Provenance: private collection - Chicago, IL; acquired from Rothschild & Company, Chicago, IL in the early 1900's. Fleur-de-lis shield with text underneath (Van Gelder Zonen) watermark in center of sheet.
"Towards the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century, Anders Zorn became increasingly interested in the history and ancient traditions of his native town Mora and its wider cultural territories which at the time, as a result of industrialisation and urbanisation, were begining to disappear. In 1904, Anders Zorn purchased an ancient farmhouse which he moved to the parish of Gopsmor, situated by the river Dal, North-West of Mora. The simple ritualistic lifestyle of its people, with whom he felt affinity, and Gopsmor's geographical isolation, became for Zorn, a place of refuge for the cosmopolitan artist". - Christie's, London, UK
Biography:
Anders Leonard Zorn...
Category
Early 1900s Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Laid Paper, Etching, Intaglio
Impressionist tropical watercolor 'Sweet Heat'
Located in THOMERY, FR
"Sweet Heat" is a watercolor on paper framed on patine gold wooden frame.
Unframed size : 40 X 30 cm
Framed size : 50 X 40 cm
The work thus incites one to reconnect, to take a br...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Watercolor, Ink
No Reserve
H 15.75 in W 11.82 in D 0.04 in
"Pear Still Life on Green" 1990 Jack Hooper Pastel with Gouache Painting
By Jack Hooper
Located in Arp, TX
Jack Hooper
"Pear Still Life on Green"
10-1990
Pastel and gouache on paper
17.75"x15.5" unframed
Signed and dated in pencil lower right
In this artwork, Jack Hooper presents a simpl...
Category
Late 20th Century Abstract Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Paper, Pastel, Gouache
Baths of Caracalla, (Rome)
By John Piper
Located in Malvern, GB
A lovely original work, a flowing watercolour and pastel with pencil and wax crayon giving us a Piper-eye view of the ruins of the ‘Baths of Caracalla’ in near the Appian Way in Rome...
Category
1960s Abstract Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Crayon, Pastel, Ink, Watercolor
Family at the Beach WPA Modernism American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century
By William Gropper
Located in New York, NY
Family at the Beach WPA Modernism American Scene Social Realism Mid 20th Century
William Gropper (1898 - 1977)
"Family at the Beach"
27 1/2 x 19 1/2 inches
Mixed media on paper, c. ...
Category
1940s American Modern Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Gouache, Watercolor, Ink, Paper
Chef Pasta - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor
By Irene Pattinson
Located in Soquel, CA
Chef Pasta - Vintage Illustration in Ink and Watercolor
A charming illustration, by Irene Pattinson (American, 1909-1999), shows a chef in an 1800's toque blanche, pouring oil from an ornate bottle over a bowl. His face, with spectacles, a moustache and goatee in fine line work, is painted in vibrant pink watercolor for an added splash of color.
Signed in the bottom right corner, "i.p."
Presented in a new white mat with foam core backing.
Mat size: 8.5"H x 11"W
Paper size: 6.75"H x 6.75"W
Image size: 4.13"H x 3.63"W
Irene Pattinson (American, 1909-1999) studied at the California School of Fine Art (now The San Francisco Art Institute), San Francisco State College and The Marion Hartwell School of Design. She was President of the San Francisco Woman Artists Association 1955-56.
Provenance: The Artist, Estate of Irene Pattinson: David Carlson; Estate of Larry Miller Fine Art, Robert Azensky Fine Art.
Solo Exhibitions: Lucien Labaudt Gallery 1955; San Francisco Museum of Art, 1961 (39 works).
Selected Group Exhibitions: San Francisco Art Association Annual 1948, 54, 55; San Francisco Woman Artists, 1957-1960; Oakland Art Museum Annual, 1951, 58; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 1960; Richmond Art Center, 1955, 56, 57, 58; San Francisco Art Institute 1959, 60. The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, 1958, 59, 60, 62, 63; Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1960; Fourth Winter Invitational, California Palace of The Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1963.
Awards: First Place, San Francisco Woman Artists Assoc., 1957, 1959; San Francisco Art Festival 1957;Literature: San Francisco Art Institute - A catalog of the Art Ban 1962/63; San Francisco and the Second Wave: The Blair Collection
Exhibitions:
1963 The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA
1963 California Palace of The Legion of Honor: Forth Winter Invitational, San Francisco, CA
1962 The Art Bank of the San Francisco Art Association, San Francisco, CA
1961 San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco, CA
1960 California...
Category
1950s American Modern Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Paper, India Ink, Watercolor, Pen
H 11 in W 8.5 in D 0.25 in
BYE BYE BIRDIE Original 1960 Broadway Musical Costume Drawing Tony Award Elvis
Located in New York, NY
BYE BYE BIRDIE Original 1960 Broadway Musical Costume Drawing Tony Award Elvis.
Miles White (1915 – 2000)
BYE BYE BIRDIE
11 x 8 inches
Mixed Media on...
Category
1960s American Modern Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil
Judith Brenner, Sophie Dancing 1, Original Figurative Art, Abstract Sketch Art
By Judith Brenner
Located in Deddington, GB
Judith Brenner
Sophie Dancing 1
Original Figurative Drawing
Acrylic Paint, Pan Pastel, Ink and Watercolour Pencil on Paper
Sheet Size: 84.1cm x W 59.4cm x D 0.1cm
Sold Unframed
Please note that in situ images are purely an indication of how a piece may look.
Sophie Dancing 1 is an original nude drawing by Judith Brenner.The figure is continuously moving and the final work is a composition made in an attempt to capture the rhythm of the dance. This abstract-impressionistic work is evocative of Francis Bacon’s style...
Category
21st Century and Contemporary Abstract Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Paper, Pastel, Ink, Watercolor, Pen
Free Shipping
H 33.12 in W 23.39 in D 0.04 in
Previously Available Items
1994 Nell Blaine 'Jestina's Reds' Contemporary USA Lithograph
By Nell Blaine
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Paper Size: 30.75 x 29 inches ( 78.105 x 73.66 cm )
Image Size: 24 x 23 inches ( 60.96 x 58.42 cm )
Framed: No
Condition: B-: Good Condition, Signs of Handling and Age
Addition...
Category
1990s Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Lithograph
H 30.75 in W 29 in D 0.1 in
Jestina's Reds
By Nell Blaine
Located in Long Island City, NY
Nell Blaine was inspired by the flower arrangements of her longtime aide, Jestina Forrester for this lithograph. Nell suffered from polio which required her to have full-time help, a...
Category
1990s Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Lithograph
"Anemones and Star of Bethlehem" Impressionist Still Life Painting
By Nell Blaine
Located in Houston, TX
A beautiful still life of flowers titled "Anemones and Star of Bethlehem" by renowned artist Nell Blaine. Oil on canvas circa 1970.
Dimensions with...
Category
1970s American Impressionist Nell Blaine Art
Materials
Oil
H 28 in W 22 in D 1 in
Nell Blaine art for sale on 1stDibs.
Find a wide variety of authentic Nell Blaine art available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Nell Blaine in crayon, paint, pastel and more. Much of the original work by this artist or collective was created during the 20th century and is mostly associated with the Impressionist style. Not every interior allows for large Nell Blaine art, so small editions measuring 10 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of James March Phillips, Constantin Alajalov, and Walter Tittle. Nell Blaine art prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $100 and tops out at $9,250, while the average work can sell for $2,400.