MODERN BRITISH  CONTEMPORARY ART

AVIS NEWMAN b1946

ABSTRACT LANDSCAPE 

An Abstract Expressionist mixed media painting and assembled  landscape, painted circa 1980 by Avis Newman. Her works are housed in the Tate Gallery and are currently on display at Tate Modern.

Artist details verso. 

                     Thomas Estley.

Condition. Mixed media, image size 16 inches by 25 inches, in good condition. 

Frame. Presented in its original frame, 29 inches by 20 inches, in untouched original condition.

BIOGRAPHY.

Avis Newman (b. 1946) - is a highly regarded artist, curator and lecturer. She is a Professor at Wimbledon School of Art and Lecturer at the Rijks Academy, Amsterdam. Newman's drawings and large un-stretched canvases document her contemplative and intuitive investigation of the subconscious. 

Throughout her career she has worked with a range of media, although since the early 1980s has been primarily associated with large-scale, minimalist drawings on un-stretched canvas - usually pinned directly to the gallery walls for display. 

Central to Newman’s own practice as an artist is the notion of drawing as the silent act of marking, gesturing and making signs. She describes drawing as the activity that is closest to pure thought. Herworks show a preoccupation with notions of origin, memory, and the genesis of the mark.

Drawing has been at the heart of her making, writing and curatorial activities. She was a Professor in Drawing at The Centre for Drawing at Wimbledon between 2006-9 where she ran a program of residencies, events, teaching and publications, including the series of ‘Notes’ that came out of the residencies at The Centre for Drawing.

In 2003 Newman curated ‘The Stage of Drawing – Gesture and Act’ where she selected over 120 drawings from the Tate Collection that demonstrated her understanding of drawing as a set of actions that convey sensation before and beyond language; and how drawing is a unique exploratory form of thought distillation.

She first exhibited at Matt’s Gallery in 1982 with Scenes and currently sits on the gallery’s committee of management. Recent solo exhibitions include Lisson Gallery, London 1998; The Drawing Centre, New York, 2002 and Avis Newman: Descriptions at Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, 2003. Group exhibitions include Paula Rego, John Murphy, Avis Newman, Saatchi Gallery, London in 1994 La casa, il corpo, il Cuore at The National Gallery in Prague, Czech Republic in 1999 and selected works from the drawing collection of the Tate Gallery, 2003. 

Her work is held in the Tate Collection, London; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and Berardo Museum - Collection of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lisbon. Avis Newman is represented by the Lisson Gallery, London.

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