Nathan Oliveira
Nathan Oliveira's hauntingly sensual and intuitive strokes  combine with a bold palette to produce work around themes of  death, struggle, and isolation. Primarily figurative, his  paintings also include still lifes and landscapes. Acting as a  complement to a major traveling exhibition originating at the  San Jose Museum of Art this spring, this publication seeks to  restore Oliveira to his rightful place as an international  artist, extricating him from being lumped with other Bay Area  figurative painters. This comprehensive work focuses on  Oliveira's career as an artist and as professor emeritus at  Stanford University and includes previously unpublished  biographical and bibliographical information, though it is not a  full biography. Selz (founding director, Berkeley Art Museum)  firmly places Oliveira within the context of the cultural fabric  of the 1950s, when the painter began his career, and reveals his  various influences. Smithsonian curator Joann Moser contributes  a superb essay on Oliveira's printmaking and drawing. A  chronology, bibliography, and list of Oliveira's solo  exhibitions make this the definitive monograph to date. Highly  recommended for academic libraries with collections on Bay Area  artists, figurative painting, or modern artists. Rebecca  Tolley-Stokes, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson CityCopyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.