Untitled by Neil Welliver

Abstract

View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload (PPT)Neil Welliver (1929-2005) was born on July 22nd in the small town of Millville, Pennsylvania. He obtained his BFA from the Philadelphia Museum College of Art (later named the Philadelphia College of Art and now belonging to the University of the Arts) in 1953 and his MFA from Yale University in 1955. While at Yale, he studied formalist painting and later became a teacher there. Welliver took on the duties of the Chairman of the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Fine Arts, and retired from that position in 1989.1Johnson K. Neil Welliver Obituary. New York Times. April 8, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/08/arts/design/08welliver.html?_r=0. Accessed August 19, 2013.Google Scholar He was a student of abstract painters Burgoyne Diller and Josef Albers2Neil Welliver Biography. http://totallyhistory.com/neil-welliver/. Accessed August 20, 2013.Google Scholar but stylistically tried to retain a fraction of realism in his paintings. Early paintings also included nudes immersed in woods and rivers but later evolved into just the nature scenes.1Johnson K. Neil Welliver Obituary. New York Times. April 8, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/08/arts/design/08welliver.html?_r=0. Accessed August 19, 2013.Google Scholar, 2Neil Welliver Biography. http://totallyhistory.com/neil-welliver/. Accessed August 20, 2013.Google Scholar He was an avid painter, continuing to work throughout his entire life, and he was known for his dedication and stamina, often working uninterrupted for 8 hours at a time after a full day of teaching.2Neil Welliver Biography. http://totallyhistory.com/neil-welliver/. Accessed August 20, 2013.Google Scholar Frequently in art, the goal is to create something revolutionary, shocking, or new, or at least not to repeat the “same old” of the past. These 4 untitled works by Welliver are great representations of the influence he absorbed from his mentors and demonstrate that he indeed had one foot stepping into the abstract world, with the other remaining firmly planted in realism. This perhaps reveals that he had a desire to be forward-thinking in his exploration of the new, but also retained the value of tradition, which then by combination, naturally created its own unique appearance and style. The paintings exhibit a Pop Art influence, and the images generate a cartoon, primitive, or paint-by-number feeling when viewed. This is brought to life by the wide outlines and simplicity of color given to each component. Impressionism also manifests its influence in the blurring of detail. As each image is studied deeply, the viewer is transported into a walk in pristine woodlands, and the mirror images created by the reflections in the water provide both a pleasing symmetry and a whisper of mystery. Untitled are located on the 4th floor of the Gonda Building on the downtown campus of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.