Robert S. Neuman's Definition of Place: 1950-2012, a traveling retrospective, opens at The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho on April 25, 2013. The exhibition runs from April 25 through August 10, 2013 and then travels to the Prichard Art Gallery at the University of Idaho
in Moscow, where it will be on display from August 22 through October 12, 2013.
Mr. Neuman and Sunne Savage will travel to Idaho Falls for the opening reception on April 25, 2013. A pre-opening ARTalk with the artist is planned for local artists at 6pm. The Art Museum of Eastern Idaho is located at 300 South Capital Avenue in Idaho Falls, Idaho.
As a second generation Abstract Expressionist, Neuman explores regional, historical and metaphysical themes. Drawing inspiration from architecture, landscape and history, his passion for color, application, drawing and geometry unify a prolific body of work. Definition of Place includes work from 12 of his 15 major painting series.
Neuman was born in the small, Northern Idaho mining town of
Kellogg in 1926. After a brief enrollment at the University of Idaho and
service in the U.S. Army, he studied at the California College of Arts and
Crafts in Oakland, where he earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees.
Neuman studied with contemporary masters such as Max Beckmann and has exhibited
alongside artists such as Willem de Kooning, Kline, Motherwell and Theibaud. As a recipient
of the Fulbright Fellowship, he studied with Willi Baumeister in Germany and
also studied in Barcelona, Spain on a Guggenheim Fellowship. After returning to
the States, he taught at several universities on the east coast, including
Brown, Harvard and Keene State. He has shown widely and has work in major
museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, as well as in
private collections coast to coast.
To date, this is Neuman's largest and most comprehensive exhibition and will be the first in his native state of Idaho since 1969. As one of Idaho's most important living artists, Neuman hopes this retrospective will reintroduce his work to museum professionals, art enthusiasts and the youth of his birthplace.
