Skip to main content

Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

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.
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
9
888
324
192
178
1
Artist: Nathan Oliveira
Head
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Watercolor, gouache, ink wash, crayon, and pencil on paper
Category

1950s Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Crayon, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil

Head
Price Upon Request
Related Items
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 Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Ink, Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil

Fawn
By Henry Hablak
Located in Philadelphia, PA
"Fawn" is an original ink, colored pencil, and gouache on paper artwork by Henry Hablak measuring 30"h x 22"w. Henry Hablak is a tattoo artist and illustrator based out of Philadel...
Category

2010s Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Gouache, Color Pencil

Fawn
Fawn
$1,000
H 30 in W 22 in
"#70 – I AM TIRED", ink, pencil, gouache, collage, vintage, hemingway, poetry
By Amy Williams
Located in Toronto, Ontario
"#70 – I AM TIRED" is from Amy Williams' series "A Farewell to Arms" – wherein the artist works directly onto page 70 of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway'...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Found Objects, Ink, Gouache, Pencil

Liber Mystia XLIII
By Henry Hablak
Located in Philadelphia, PA
"Liber Mystia XLIII" is an original artwork by Henry Hablak made of gouache, ink, and colored pencil on paper measuring 16.25"h x 12.25"w framed and 14"h x 11"w unframed. Henry Habl...
Category

2010s Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Gouache, Color Pencil

Liber Mystia XLIII
Liber Mystia XLIII
$420
H 16.25 in W 12.25 in
"#220 – PEACE", ink, pencil, gouache, collage, vintage book, hemingway, poetry
By Amy Williams
Located in Toronto, Ontario
"#220 – PEACE" is from Amy Williams' series "A Farewell to Arms" – wherein the artist works directly onto page 220 of a found copy of Ernest Hemingway's W...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Found Objects, Ink, Gouache, Pencil

'International Bar', French School
Located in London, GB
'International Bar, pencil, ink and gouache on card stock by an unnamed artist of the French School (20th Century). This appears to be a fantastical port visit of the artist's imagination. It is very lively in colour and in subject. The artwork was discovered in Paris along with several others of the same character, most likely by the same person. It depicts the entryway of a brightly lit Asian bar...
Category

20th Century Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Gouache, Pencil

Rowing Sculling Team Regatta, Life Magazine - African American Illustrator
By E. Simms Campbell
Located in Miami, FL
E. Simms Campbell was the first African-American illustrator/ cartoonist published in nationally distributed, slick magazines, he created Esky, the familiar pop-eyed mascot of Esquire. This early work of 1930 was done on assignment for an interior page of Life Magazine. It features two Rowing teams engaged in spirited competition with cheering onlookers. This is a highly stylized black-and-white illustration and is masterfully executed. The work is composed of two illustrations, 6 x 9 inches and 2-3/4 x 2 inches respectively. It is initialed center bottow ESC. unframed Campbell left the University of Chicago and transferred to and received his degree from the Chicago Art Institute.[3] Professional career During a job as a railroad dining-car waiter, Campbell sometimes drew caricatures of the train passengers, and one of those, impressed by Campbell's talent, gave him a job in a St. Louis art studio, Triad Studios. He spent two years at Triad Studios before moving to New York City in 1929. A month afterward, he found work with the small advertising firm, Munig Studios, and began taking classes at the National Academy of Design.During this time, he contributed to various magazines, notably Life, & Judge Following the suggestion of cartoonist Russell Patterson to focus on good girl art, Campbell created his "Harem Girls", a series of watercolor cartoons that attracted attention in the first issue of Esquire, debuting in 1933. Campbell's artwork was in almost every issue of Esquire from 1933 to 1958 and he was the creator of its continuing mascot, the cartoon character in a silk top hat. He also contributed to The Chicagoan, Cosmopolitan, Ebony, The New Yorker, Playboy, Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, Pictorial Review, and Redbook. His commercial artwork for advertising included illustrations for Barbasol, Springmaid, and Hart Schaffner...
Category

1930s Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Ink, Illustration Board, Gouache, Pencil

"#187 – HE SAID IT WAS A LIE", ink, pencil, gouache, found vintage book, poetry
By Amy Williams
Located in Toronto, Ontario
"#187 – HE SAID IT WAS A LIE" is from Amy Williams' series A Farewell to Arms – wherein the artist is working directly onto page 187 of a found copy of Er...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Found Objects, Ink, Gouache, Pencil

Art Deco Costume Design - Eva
By Georges Lepape
Located in Miami, FL
The paper in some of these photos looks overly textured due to the sharpness of the high-res digital camera. In person, with the human eye, the paper looks reasonably smooth with out blemishes. For this fashion illustration, Georges Lepape paints a stunning abstract pattern for the subject dress that is repeated in her hair. The work represents an early use of metallic paint, with silver metallic in the dress and bronze metallic in the blouse. Lepape's highly detailed drawing becomes more evident the closer you look. It's quite amazing how deftly he rendered facial feature on such a small scale. "Eva" 1918 Gouache, watercolor, and ink on paper Signed and dated, lower right: '1918' Inscribed, verso: "Costume for L'enfantement du mort, (miracle en pourpre, et or.). Devised by Marcel L'Herbier and performed at the Théatre Edouard VII and the Comédie des Champs-Elysées, 1919" Provenance: Ex-collection Lucien...
Category

1910s Art Deco Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Paper, Ink, Watercolor, Pencil, Gouache

Vogue Magazine Illustration Turn of the Century - Woman Illustrator
By Helen Dryden
Located in Miami, FL
Early in the artist's career most likely for Vogue Magazine. Signed lower left. Helen Dryden (1882–1972) was an American artist and successful industrial designer in the 1920s and 1...
Category

1910s Academic Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

India Ink, Pencil, Graphite, Gouache

Bright Lashes / Head Study No. 93
By Kim Frohsin
Located in Burlingame, CA
Bright Lashes / Head Study No. 93, drawing / painting featuring the head portrait of a young woman. in monochromatic grey, brown and white. The work is created with mixed media on ar...
Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Charcoal, Crayon, Mixed Media, Gouache, Color Pencil

Bright Lashes / Head Study No. 93
$1,600
H 11.38 in W 9.5 in D 0.25 in
ACROBATS
By Reginald Marsh
Located in Portland, ME
Marsh, Reginald. ACROBATS. Ink, gouache, and pastel on paper, 1922. Signed, lower right. c. 18 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches; framed to 28 x 23 1/2 x 1 1/4 inches. In excellent condition.
Category

1920s Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Pastel, Ink, Gouache

ACROBATS
ACROBATS
$2,500
H 28 in W 24 in
Previously Available Items
Seated Figure
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category

Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Head #1
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category

Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Untitled Nude
By Nathan Oliveira
Located in San Francisco, CA
Category

Nathan Oliveira Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Nathan Oliveira figurative drawings and watercolors for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Nathan Oliveira figurative drawings and watercolors available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Nathan Oliveira in crayon, gouache, ink and more. Not every interior allows for large Nathan Oliveira figurative drawings and watercolors, so small editions measuring 9 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of Irene Pattinson, Victor Di Gesu, and Sylvia Spicuzza.

Recently Viewed

View All