Portrait of John Newman
Photographer: Jim McHugh
© Jim McHugh

John Newman was born in Flushing, New York, in 1952. He is more widely recognised as a sculptor than a print maker, though he completed an impressive body of work at Tyler Graphics between 1989 and 1995. Newman undertook his artistic training at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Oberlin College in Ohio, and received an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 1975.

The subjects of both Newman’s sculptures and prints are intimate organic forms reminiscent of the inside of shells. The prints he produced at Tyler Graphics are delicately coloured abstract forms that often act as plans for his sculptural work.
Emilie Owens

Further reading

Chronology
 

1952
Born in Flushing, New York

1972
Completes an independent study program at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

1973
Attends Oberlin College, Ohio

1975
Receives Master of Fine Arts from Yale School of Art, New Haven, Connecticut

1977
First solo exhibition, Installations, City University of New York Graduate Center Mall, New York; solo exhibition, Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1979
Included in exhibition, Six sculptures,Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts

1980
Included in exhibition, Painting in relief, Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York

1984
Included in exhibition, Sistovaris collection, Musee Athénée, Geneva, Switzerland

1985
Included in exhibition, The Whitney biennial exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York

1986
Receives grant from the American National Endowment for the ArtsIncluded in exhibition, Monumental drawings, Brooklyn Museum, New York

1987
Included in exhibition, New acquisitions, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

1988
Included in exhibition, The combination print: 1980’s, New Jersey Center for the Visual Arts, Summit, New Jersey

1989
Included in exhibitions: Art in place, Whitney Museum of American Art; Four Americans: aspects of current sculpture and Projects & portfolios: the 25th annual print exhibition, both at Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York

1990
Completes ten mixed media prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd, Mount Kisco, New YorkReceives New York Foundation for the Arts grantIncluded in exhibition, The unique print: 70's into 80's, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

1992
Completes four lithographs and one mixed media wall sculpture, entitled Spin Off,at Tyler Graphics LtdReceives John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship; appointed Director of Graduate Studies, Yale School of Art, Sculpture DepartmentIncluded in travelling exhibition, Innovation in collaborative printmaking: Kenneth Tyler, 1963-1992, originating at Yokohama Museum of Art, Yokohama, JapanWorks with Kenneth Tyler and papermakers at the Fuji Paper Mill, Fuji, Japan, to produce papers for use in later work; travels to cities across Japan to give lectures with Kenneth Tyler and Steven Sorman

1993
Completes mixed media prints Loop Hole and Loop Hole hand-colored at Tyler Graphics LtdSolo exhibition, John Newman: sculpture and works on paper, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Indiana; included in exhibition, 20th international print biennial, International Center of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1995
Commissioned by Dai Nippon Printing Company Ltd to create the sculpture Upward Turn for site of Center for Contemporary Graphic Art and Tyler Graphics Archive Collection in Uzumine, JapanCompletes lithograph Upward Turn, sculpture multiples On the Other Hand and linocut series Second thoughts at Tyler Graphics Ltd.

1996
Included in exhibition, New in the nineties: a print and photography exhibition, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, New York

1997
Included in exhibition, Queens artists: highlights of the 20th century, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, New York

1998
Included in exhibitions: Selections from Tyler Graphics Ltd, Atlanta College of Art Gallery, Georgia; Pushing boundaries: lithographs from 9 American fine art presses, College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning Galleries, University of Cincinnati, Ohio

1999
Included in exhibition, Forms that speak, Center for Contemporary Graphics and the Tyler Graphics Archive, Fukushima, Japan

2004
Included in exhibition, New prints 2004/ Autumn, International Print Center, New York

John Newman currently lives and works in New York.

© Tyler Graphics Ltd; revised Emilie Owens, 2007
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.

Further information will be added to this site as the National Gallery proceeds with its research and documentation.

Last updated May 2013