This is a spectacular painting by noted Mexican modern artist Leonardo Nierman. It is done in his favorite medium, acrylic paint on board. It is typical of his work in that it is abstract with vivid colors. His paintings are never directly representational but features of landscapes and space are recurrent themes. In the case of this piece, there is a branching structure on the left side of the painting that could be interpreted as a bush or tree that has lost its leaves. The color and energy is extraordinary. It is signed and dated lower right and was created in 1961. It is in excellent condition with no damage. The piece is mounted on a larger frame that is 23 x 35 inches in size. A fantastic example of his work.
Leonardo Nierman (1932 - 2023) Leonardo Nierman is a prolific Mexican artist who works in all media. His background is non-traditional. He initially pursued music spending 2 decades studying the violin. He studied physics and mathematics in school although ultimately got a degree in business administration. While he had contemplated the idea of becoming a painter, it was while pursuing his degree that he convinced the dean of the school to let him paint a mural for the school, despite no formal training as an artist. He consulted with famed artist and muralist David Alfaro Siqueiros while working on the mural, but otherwise has had no formal academic training although did extensive research into color and movement. His style emphasizes color and movement. The images are mostly abstract, intentionally non-narrative, and non-representational, although certain forms tend to recur including birds, angels, flames, celestial bodies, and musical instruments. He notes a strong similarity between painting and making music, “both have tonalities, rhythms, high-intensity areas and resting areas.” His style has been called Magical Expressionism. He focuses on the interaction of colors to create ‘a moment’. He famously said, “I no longer think about paintings, I dream them.” Since his first exhibit in the late 1950s, he has had over 100 individual shows and exhibits world-wide. His work is held in many major museum collections including: The Chicago Art Institute, the gallery of the Vatican, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, and the Art Modern Gallery in New York City. Like many of his Mexican predecessors, he has been commissioned to create murals and other large scale public art. While his initial mural in the business school was subsequently destroyed, he has created a mural for the physics department of Princeton University (another hearkening back to his early studies). Like Chagall and Giacometti, he worked in stained glass designing windows for Temple Beth Israel in Lomas de Chapultepec. He has numerous large-scale sculptures including the Flame of the Millennium (Chicago), Sensación de Vuelo (St. Louis), and Ángeles testigos de la Beatificación de Juan de Palafox y Mendoza (Puebla, Mexico). He has won many major artistic awards among them the Gloria Award from the International Latino Cultural Center in Chicago, the Vasco de Quiroga Medal from the government of Mexico City, the Palme d'Or des Beaux Arts from Monaco, The Royce Medal (New York), and the League of Art Gold Medal (Chicago). His list of academic honorifics is extensive the most notable of which are election as a member of the Instituto de Artes in Mexico, lifetime member of the Royal Society of the Arts in London, Golden Centaur and honorary masters of painting from the Academy of Italy and named as European Academic by the Centro Studi Di Recerch L Accademia D Europa in Italy. December 19, 2002 was officially Leonardo Nierman Day in Chicago, a city with which he has a special relationship.