Neil Welliver

Poems by Henrik Ibsen with lithograph and etchings by Neil Welliver

1987

Landscape painter Neil Welliver was born in 1929 in Millville, Pennsylvania. He attended the Philadelphia College of Art, and then went on to receive his MFA from Yale University. There, Welliver studied with abstract artist Josef Albers who had a significant influence on his work. He began his teaching career first at the Cooper Union, and then at his alma mater, Yale, from 1956-1966. He also became the chairman of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School Of Fine Art. Welliver’s style evolved from color field painting to more realistic depictions of New England landscapes, most notably in Maine. He settled there in 1970 but commuted to UPENN for his classes from 1966-1989. His life was marked by frequent tragedies. In 1975, a fire consumed his entire home, studio, and all of his art. Over the next few years, his second wife, daughter, and two sons all died. He is survived by his other three sons. His work is in several museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Welliver passed away in 2005 in Belfast, Maine.