Nell Blaine facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Nell Blaine
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| Born |
Nell Blair Walden Blaine
July 11, 1922 Richmond, Virginia
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| Died | November 14, 1996 (aged 74) New York, New York
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | Richmond School of Art, now Virginia Commonwealth University |
| Known for | Painting |
| Spouse(s) |
Bob Bass
(m. 1943–1949) |
| Awards | Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award |
Nell Blair Walden Blaine (born July 10, 1922, died November 14, 1996) was an American artist. She was known for her beautiful landscape paintings and watercolor art. Nell Blaine spent most of her career in New York City and Gloucester, Massachusetts.
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Nell Blaine's Early Life and Education
Nell Blaine was born in Richmond, Virginia. As a young child, she was often sick and had problems with her eyes. When she was two, doctors found she was very nearsighted. She got glasses, and for the first time, she could see the world clearly. She was so excited to see "water, tree, and house!"
Nell's father was sad after his first wife passed away. This made him often angry with Nell. Her mother, Eudora, had been a teacher. When Nell was too sick for school, her mother taught her at home. At age five, Nell told her mother she wanted to create art.
During the Great Depression, Nell's father lost his good job. Her grandfather moved in, making their small home even more crowded. Nell loved her grandfather, who told funny stories and loved to dance. At school, kids sometimes teased Nell because of her eyes. She was thin and pale, so her school put her in a special class with a healthy diet. She also had extra nap times and outdoor play.
When Nell was thirteen, she had eye operations at Johns Hopkins Hospital. She had to wear bandages for months. After the surgeries, her vision got much better. She returned to school and felt more accepted by her friends.
Her drawing skills improved a lot after the surgery. Her cousin Ruth gave her a first set of watercolor paints. Nell loved how the colors moved on the paper. During her teenage years, her father became very ill with heart problems. Nell found comfort in summer visits to her aunt's house in Baltimore. She was there when her father passed away.
Flowers were a happy memory for Nell from her childhood in Richmond. She remembered her family's small garden. Her mother grew roses, and Nell had zinnias. But her father's dahlias were amazing. They were bright and colorful, with blossoms as big as dinner plates.
Nell studied art at the Richmond School of Art. In 1942, she moved to New York City to learn from the famous painter Hans Hofmann. She also studied etching and engraving at Atelier 17.
Becoming a Professional Artist
Nell Blaine's early art was very realistic. But then she changed to an abstract style. She was inspired by artists like Piet Mondrian and Fernand Léger. She joined the American Abstract Artists group. She was their youngest member.
This group helped her get her first solo art show. It was at the Jane Street Gallery in Greenwich Village. This gallery was one of the first artist-run cooperatives in New York. In these early years, Nell was very focused on abstract art. She said, "I'm developing so fast in my tastes and I become more abstract all the time." She and other young artists used the gallery to show and sell their work. This helped them become known in the art world.
Around 1950, Nell lived and worked in Paris for a short time. She traveled around Europe and showed her art in France, Denmark, and Italy. This trip made her want to try older, traditional European painting styles. She started showing her work at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1953.
In the mid-1950s, her art became more colorful and expressive. She often painted directly from nature. She loved to focus on the shapes and colors of flowers and still life scenes. During this time, Nell was part of a group of famous artists and poets in New York. This group included Willem de Kooning and Frank O'Hara. In 1955, she even designed the first logo for The Village Voice newspaper.
In 1959, Nell traveled to Greece to paint. While there, she got polio, a serious illness. After eight months in a New York hospital, doctors thought she might never paint again. She used a wheelchair for the rest of her life. But with hard work and physical therapy, she regained use of her hands by 1960. From then on, she painted with her left hand and sketched with her right.
Nell Blaine's Artistic Style
Nell Blaine didn't like to put her art into one category. She explored how colors and light worked together. She often painted landscapes seen from her apartment window. She also painted vases of flowers, still lifes, and scenes from inside her home. Her garden in Gloucester, Massachusetts was another favorite subject.
She once said that an artist needs a "permissive atmosphere." She wanted to be surprised by her own work. She believed an artist should be their own guide.
By the 1950s, Nell's art was getting a lot of attention in New York. Famous art critics praised her work. Peggy Guggenheim, a well-known art collector, chose one of Nell's pieces for an important exhibition of women artists in 1945.
As Nell continued to paint, she experimented with Abstract Expressionism. She also used watercolor a lot. A common theme in her work was looking out a window from inside. By 1959, even though she was ill, Nell traveled often. She painted landscapes in the Caribbean, Europe, and New England. She moved away from Abstract Expressionism and towards a more Modernist style. By the mid-1970s, she settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Nell saw painting as a way to celebrate life. She wanted to arrange forms and colors in a joyful way. This joy can be seen in her early abstract works inspired by jazz. It also appears in her paintings of blooming dahlias and zinnias. These show the small, wonderful things in everyday life. Sometimes, her work also showed a feeling of being alone. She often painted in quiet settings, sometimes late at night. She felt a deep connection between herself and nature, especially when living in rural Massachusetts.
Personal Life and Recognition
In 1943, Nell married Bob Bass, a musician. They divorced in 1949. Nell lived for many years in a large apartment and studio in New York City with her partner, artist Carolyn Harris. She also had a summer home in Gloucester.
Nell Blaine's art is in many important museum collections. These include the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
She received art fellowships from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in 1943 and 1946. These helped her study in New York. In 1957, Life magazine featured Nell as one of five rising young American women artists.
In 1973, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts held a special show of her work. In 1980, Nell was elected to the National Academy of Design. She received the Women's Caucus for Art Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986. In 1996, the year she passed away, she received the Leslie Cheek Award for her art. A large show of her work was also held at the Muscarelle Museum of Art.
Exhibitions
Nell Blaine's art has been shown in many exhibitions, including:
- 2019: Selected works at MoMa and Kasmin Gallery, New York
- 2016: Will You Be My Valentine?, Caldwell Gallery Hudson; Nell Blaine: Selected Works, Tibor de Nagy, New York
- 2012: Nell Blaine: A Glowing Order: Printings and Watercolors at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
- 2007: Nell Blaine: Image and Abstraction, Paintings and Drawings 1944-1959 at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
- 2004: Nell Blaine: Selected Works at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
- 2003: Nell Blaine: Artist in the World: Work from the 1950s at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York
- 2001: Nell Blaine: Sensations of Nature at Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, MA
- 1996: Nell Blaine at Muscarelle Museum of Art, Williamsburg, VA
- 1973: Nell Blaine at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA
- 1960: Nell Blaine: Paintings of Greece at Poindexter Gallery, New York
- 1948: Nell Blaine at Jane Street Gallery, New York
- 1945: The Women at Art of This Century, New York
See also
In Spanish: Nell Blaine para niños
