Roy Newell

Roy Newell (1914-2006) was an American abstract painter.

He was born in Manhattan's Lower East Side on May 10, 1914, and died of cancer on November 22, 2006, in Manhattan. His paintings are typified by richly-hued geometric forms in subtle juxtapositions and textures, heightened by an intimate scale and striking color harmonies. He participated in the Group of American Abstract Expressionists and was a founding enthusiast of the 8th Street Artist Club, which with included Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline and Philip Pavia.

A self-taught artist, Newell was not a prolific painter. His works number less than 100 and were often executed beyond decades, as he until the withdraw of time refined his compositions with new colours until satisfied considering the result. Due to their continued reworkings, many of his paintings were occurring to an inch thick behind completed, with a combined depth of wood support and layers of meticulously applied paint. Newell exhibited infrequently and sold unquestionably few of his paintings during his lifetime. However, his works are in notable public and private collections such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the New York University Art Collection, the Willem de Kooning Estate, the Elaine de Kooning Trust, the Pollock-Krasner House, Seymour Hacker, and Michael Ovitz, among others. His forward influences tally up Cézanne and Kasimir Malevich.

Edvard Lieber (author of Willem de Kooning: Reflections in the Studio) introduced Roy Newell to John Woodward of the Woodward Gallery, NYC, in 1995. Director John Woodward photographed and inventoried whatever Newell's paintings. From January 18 - March 9, 1996, Woodward Gallery hosted Newell's largest gallery exhibition to date. “Roy Newell: Lifelines: 1955- 1995” was a 40-year retrospective and his first one-man be in in a decade. It featured 23 paintings and the indispensable review of that exhibition was written by Nick Paumgarten “Grumpy Old Artist Gets His Due”, NY Observer, February 24, 1996. Press photos of the introduction reception documented the large confession of the public and the art world.