Donald Nield: American Surrealist
January 10 - February 9, 2022
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Current Season
- Minjeong An: Private Pictograph
- Locating the Law
- Daphne Arthur: Fragile Intangibilities
- Joey Fauerso: In a Classroom
- Emma Steinkraus: Pas de Deux
- Matt Eich: Sunlight, Shadow, Rainbow / Grace Notes
- 2026 Senior Thesis Exhibition
- Amanda Marchand and Leah Sobsey: This Earthen Door and The Blue of Distance
- Past Seasons
Arctic Masque, 1971, oil on canvas, 40 x 28 inches
About the Exhibition
Donald Nield’s painting is characterized by fantastical settings, personal symbols, and humorous juxtapositions drawn from art references, history, and popular culture. A self-identified surrealist painter, Nield (1924-1984) was born in Shanghai and spent his childhood in the UK, Canada, and China before immigrating to the United States with his family in 1933. Having studied anatomy, perspective, and life drawing in the 1950s, Nield came to reject contemporary abstract art in favor of traditional figurative painting. “I want to express the existence of a world of the spirit with the symbols and forms of classical culture,” he said. By 1967, he had developed a visual vocabulary that merged Old Master painting, surrealism, and Pop Art - a sampling that touched upon multiple avant-garde movements while simultaneously maintaining a distance from the central art historical narratives of mid-century modernism in the United States. This exhibition features selections from Nield’s extensive oeuvre, which is now in a private collection.
Staniar Gallery Hours
Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm during the Academic Year (unless otherwise noted for special exhibitions)