Nell Blair Walden Blaine (July 10, 1922 in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

– November 14, 1996 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) was an American

landscape painter Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compos ...

, expressionist, and

watercolorist Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

. From

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

, she had most of her career based in New York City and

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, in the United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 U.S. Census. An important center of the fishing industry and a ...

Early life and education

Nell Blaine was born on July 10, 1922 in

Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...

to Harry Wellington Blaine and his second wife Eudora Catherine Garrison. She was

cross-eyed Esotropia is a form of strabismus in which one or both eyes turns inward. The condition can be constantly present, or occur intermittently, and can give the affected individual a "cross-eyed" appearance. It is the opposite of exotropia and usual ...

and sickly as a child. When she was two, her parents realized that she was extremely nearsighted and had her fitted with glasses. She later recalled her excitement over suddenly being able to see the world around her as she rushed around exclaiming "water, tree, and house." After Nell was born, her father continued to mourn his first wife, who had died in childbirth. He expressed his grief as anger toward his daughter, in the form of verbal and often physical abuse. His second wife, Eudora, had taught grade-school for ten years before Nell's birth. When Nell's health was too fragile for her to attend school, Eudora Blaine tutored the girl at home for a year. At the age of five, Nell told her mother she wanted to make art. Blaine's father lost his job as a lumber inspector, and had to settle for lesser pay during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The Blaine grandfather moved in with the family in its already crowded space. Blaine loved her grandfather and recalled that he loved to dance, could crack jokes, and told brilliant stories. She was teased at school because of her crossed eyes, and fought back physically. She was described as pale and undernourished; her school placed her in a special class and on a strict diet. Because of her condition, she had special nap times and more outdoor activities than the average child. Blaine's crossed eyes were corrected after she visited her Aunt Nellie Sue and family in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Blaine had several operations at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 mo ...

, and had to wear bandages for months. But at thirteen, she had improved vision and returned to school and more acceptance from peers. Blaine's drawing skills improved greatly because of the surgery. Her cousin Ruth bought her her first set of watercolor paints, and Nell was intrigued by its movement on paper. But during her teenage years, her father was repeatedly ill. He suffered from

cardiac asthma Cardiac asthma is the medical condition of intermittent wheezing, coughing, and shortness of breath that is associated with underlying congestive heart failure (CHF). Symptoms of cardiac asthma are related to the heart's inability to effectively an ...

and a series of heart attacks that left him disabled and on oxygen for long periods. Nell's only escape came with her summer trips to Nellie Sue's house in Baltimore. She was visiting them when her father died. Flowers were Blaine's happiest enduring link with her childhood in Richmond, Virginia. She recalled,

"We lived in a small, plain house that my father built himself in a middle-class neighborhood, and the upper half was rented out so our space was very cramped. In the yard my mother, my father, and I each had a garden. My mother's taste inclined to roses and spring flowers, and I had ordinary things like
Zinnia ''Zinnia'' is a genus of plants of the tribe Heliantheae within the family Asteraceae. They are native to scrub and dry grassland in an area stretching from the Southwestern United States to South America, with a centre of diversity in Mexico. ...
s and bluets, but the glory of our yard was my father's
dahlia Dahlia (, ) is a genus of bushy, tuberous, herbaceous perennial plants native to Mexico and Central America. A member of the Asteraceae (former name: Compositae) family of dicotyledonous plants, its garden relatives thus include the sunflower, ...
s. They bloomed in wonderful, brilliant colors, and the blossoms were as large as dinner plates. I remember the care with which he sorted the bulbs and stored them in the basement over the winter."

Blaine studied at the

Richmond School of Art #REDIRECT Art school An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, s ...

(now VCU) with

Theresa Pollak Theresa Pollak (August 13, 1899 – September 18, 2002) was an American artist and art educator born in Richmond, Virginia. She was a nationally known painter, and she is largely credited with the founding of Virginia Commonwealth University's ...

. In 1942, she moved to

to study painting under

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

. She was recommended to him by printmaker Worden Day. Through her yearlong training at the Hans Hofmann School, she adopted a non-painterly style. By 1943, she joined the

American Abstract Artists American Abstract Artists (AAA) was formed in 1936 in New York City, to promote and foster public understanding of abstract art. American Abstract Artists exhibitions, publications, and lectures helped to establish the organization as a major fo ...

group as its youngest member. Blaine studied etching and engraving with

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of ...

Atelier 17 Atelier 17 was an art school and studio that was influential in the teaching and promotion of printmaking in the 20th century. Originally located in Paris, the studio relocated to New York during the years surrounding World War II. It moved back ...

starting in 1945.

Early career

Blaine's work had begun as "tightly realist" but transformed to an abstract style, which was inspired by artists such as

Piet Mondrian Pieter Cornelis Mondriaan (), after 1906 known as Piet Mondrian (, also , ; 7 March 1872 – 1 February 1944), was a Dutch painter and art theoretician who is regarded as one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. He is known for being ...

, Fernand Leger, and Jean Helion. Blaine's association with the American Abstract Artists group led to her receiving her first solo exhibition, held at Greenwich Village's Jane Street Gallery, of which she was a founding member. It was the earliest known artists' cooperative in New York. In these early years with the Jane Street Group, Blaine prescribed to an abstract style, later explaining, "

y 1944 Y, or y, is the twenty-fifth and penultimate letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. According to some authorities, it is the sixth (or sevent ...

I'm developing so fast in my tastes and I become more abstract all the time--to the point of great purification....", and about fellow Jane Street Group members, " ewere very dogmatic about our program. Now, as I look back on it, I'm a little ashamed. But we were so excited we really thought that was the gospel, you know. When you're young you are very sure of yourself." Blaine and many other young artists used the space to display and sell their works, raising funds from collectors and donors in New York and making a name for themselves through shared and solo exhibitions. At this time, Blaine was working alongside

Ida Fischer Ida or IDA may refer to: Astronomy *Ida Facula, a mountain on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter *243 Ida, an asteroid *International Docking Adapter, a docking adapter for the International Space Station Computing *Intel Dynamic Acceleration, a techno ...

, Judith Rothschild, and other Abstract Expressionist artists under 25 years of age. Blaine briefly lived and worked in Paris around 1950 with

Larry Rivers Larry Rivers (born Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg) (1923 – 2002) was an American artist, musician, filmmaker, and occasional actor. Considered by many scholars to be the "Godfather" and "Grandfather" of Pop art, he was one of the first artists ...

, traveling across Europe and exhibiting with the American Abstract Artists group in France, Denmark, and Italy. This experience inspired her to try traditional 19th-century European painting. She showed at the

Tibor de Nagy Gallery The Tibor de Nagy Gallery is an art gallery located on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. History Tibor de Nagy Gallery is among the earliest modern art galleries in New York City. The gallery was founded by Ti ...

starting in 1953. During the mid-1950s, she refined her increasingly painterly and colorful style. She worked directly from nature, or still life, particularly focusing on the forms and hues of flowers. Also during this time, Blaine was prominent among a prestigious circle of New York artists and poets which included

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...

Willem de Kooning Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...

Kenneth Koch Kenneth Koch ( ; 27 February 1925 – 6 July 2002) was an American poet, playwright, and professor, active from the 1950s until his death at age 77. He was a prominent poet of the New York School of poetry. This was a loose group of poets includ ...

Lee Krasner Lenore "Lee" Krasner (born Lena Krassner; October 27, 1908 – June 19, 1984) was an American abstract expressionist painter, with a strong speciality in collage. She was married to Jackson Pollock. Although there was much cross-pollination betw ...

Jane Freilicher Jane Freilicher (November 19, 1924 – December 9, 2014) was an American representational painter of urban and country scenes from her homes in lower Manhattan and Water Mill, Long Island. She was a member of the informal New York School beginni ...

, Leland Bell, Louisa Matthiasdottir, Robert De Niro Sr., and

Rudy Burckhardt Rudy Burckhardt (April 6, 1914 – August 1, 1999) was a Swiss-American filmmaker, and photographer, known for his photographs of the hand-painted billboards that began to dominate the American landscape in the 1940s and 1950s. Life Burckhardt was ...

. In 1955, she designed the original logo of column heads and layout for the weekly New York newspaper ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

.'' In 1959, Blaine spent several months traveling and painting in Greece before contracting bulbospinal, or paralytic,

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

while visiting Mykonos Island. After eight months in a New York hospital, she was told she would never paint again. Though she used a wheelchair the rest of her life, by 1960 intensive physical therapy had rehabilitated the use of her hands. From then on, she would use her left hand to paint with oils, and her right hand to sketch and work on watercolors.

Work

Blaine resisted classifying her work, which explored color and the interplay of light and shade. The subject matter was primarily landscapes of the Hudson River made from her apartment window, vases of flowers, still lifes, home interiors, or her garden at

. She once said, "The artist needs a permissive atmosphere. I am not involved in impressionism, and I have turned from my former total abstract presentation. Mine are

action painting Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical a ...

s. I want to be surprised by what I am doing. An artist must be his own leader, no matter what direction he takes." By the 1950s, Blaine's work had reached considerable acclaim in New York City. Art critic

Clement Greenberg Clement Greenberg () (January 16, 1909 – May 7, 1994), occasionally writing under the pseudonym K. Hardesh, was an American essayist known mainly as an art critic closely associated with American modern art of the mid-20th century and a formal ...

spoke highly of her work, describing Blaine's ''Great White Creature'' as “best in the show” at the annual exhibition of the American Abstract Artists in 1945.

Peggy Guggenheim Marguerite "Peggy" Guggenheim ( ; August 26, 1898 – December 23, 1979) was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite. Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with t ...

selected one of her pieces for the second landmark exhibition of women artists, ''Art of This Century: The Women'', held at Art of This Century in 1945, on Greenberg's recommendation. The abstract artist

Ad Reinhardt Adolph Dietrich Friedrich Reinhardt (December 24, 1913 – August 30, 1967) was an abstract painter active in New York for more than three decades. He was a member of the American Abstract Artists (AAA) and part of the movement center ...

credited her work in 1947. As Blaine's practice continued, she began to experiment more with Abstract Expressionism, watercolor as a medium, and the repeating motif of a window view from an interior. By 1959, despite her depleted health, Blaine was frequently traveling, painting landscape scenes in the Caribbean, Europe, New England, and more. At this point, she had largely moved past her Abstract Expressionist phase, and into a more

Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

style. By the mid 1970s, she had settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts. From the start she saw painting as a means of celebrating life and conceived her role to be that of an orchestrator of forms and colors. Blaine would convey this sense of celebration in her early abstractions inspired by jazz, recent unfurling petals of dahlias, or cushiony zinnias that testify to the abundant small miracles of the commonplace. Blaine's work often expresses a sense of isolation. While Gloucester was obviously much more secluded than New York, the theme is visible in her early work as well. Much of her reclusive, personal style can be attributed to the intimate relationship between artist and nature, to which she was deeply in tune when living in rural Massachusetts. Blaine was known to paint in seclusion, often late at night when she could have the quiet setting she preferred.

Personal life

In 1943, Blaine married Bob Bass, a French horn player who introduced her to good friends in painters

and

. Blaine and Bass divorced in 1949. She lived for many years in a large apartment and studio in the building at 210 Riverside Drive with her life partner, artist Carolyn Harris. She also maintained a summer home in Gloucester. An extensive obituary of Ms. Blaine appeared in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' on November 15, 1996.

Recognition

Blaine's works are included in the permanent collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–1942), ...

The Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

National Museum of Women in the Arts The National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C., is "the first museum in the world solely dedicated" to championing women through the arts. NMWA was incorporated in 1981 by Wallace and Wilhelmina Holladay. Since openin ...

Rose Art Museum The Rose Art Museum, founded in 1961, is a part of Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, US. Named after benefactors Edward and Bertha Rose, it offers temporary exhibitions, and it displays and houses works of art from the permanent col ...

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or VMFA, is an art museum in Richmond, Virginia, United States, which opened in 1936. The museum is owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Private donations, endowments, and funds are used for the su ...

Muscarelle Museum of Art The Muscarelle Museum of Art is a university museum affiliated with the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. While the Museum only dates to 1983, the university art collection has been in existence since its first gift – a portr ...

, and the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

in Los Angeles. The native Virginian artist received Visual Arts Fellowships from the

in 1943 and 1946, which supported her training in New York with Hofmann and Hayter, respectively. ''Life'' magazine featured Blaine as one of five young American "women artists in ascendance" in their May 13, 1957 issue. In 1973, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts honored Blaine with a solo exhibition that surveyed more than a decade of her work. In 1980, Blaine was elected into the

as an associate member, and became a full member in 1982. Her papers are held at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. In 1986, Blaine received the

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

from the

Women's Caucus for Art The Women's Caucus for Art (WCA), founded in 1972, is a non-profit organization based in New York City, which supports women artists, art historians, students, educators, and museum professionals. The WCA holds exhibitions and conferences to promo ...

. In 1996, the year of her death, Blaine received the Leslie Cheek Award for Outstanding Presentation in the Arts from William and Mary concurrent with a retrospective of her work at the Muscarelle Museum of Art.

Exhibitions

;2019 *Nell Blaine - selected works. On view at MoMa *Kasmin Gallery: “Painters of the east End”, featuring selected works by Nell Blaine. ;2016 * ''Will You Be My Valentine?'', Caldwell Gallery Hudson, Hudson * ''Nell Blaine: Selected Works'', Tibor de Nagy, New York ;2012 * ''Nell Blaine: A Glowing Order: Printings and Watercolors'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY ;2007 *''Nell Blaine: Image and Abstraction, Paintings and Drawings 1944-1959'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY ;2004 *''Nell Blaine: Selected Works'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY ;2003 *''Nell Blaine: Artist in the World: Work from the 1950s'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY *''The Jane Street Gallery: Celebrating New York's First Artist Cooperative'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY *''Nell Blaine: Abstract Paintings and Works on Paper'' at Valerie Carberry Gallery, Chicago, IL *''Nell Blaine/ Theresa Pollak'' at Reynolds Gallery, Richmond, VA ;2001 *''Nell Blaine: Sensations of Nature'' at Cape Ann Historical Museum, Gloucester, MA, and Marsh Art Gallery, Richmond, VA *''Nell Blaine: The Abstract Work'' at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY 1998 * ''Shattering the Southern Stereotype: Jack Beal, Nell Blaine, Dorothy Gillespie, Sally Mann, Cy Twombly'' at Longwood Center for the Visual Arts, Farmville, VA 1996 * ''Nell Blaine'' at

at William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA 1987 * ''Nell Blaine'' at Fischbach Gallery, New York, NY 1985 * ''Nell Blaine: Paintings, Drawings, and Etchings'' at Reynolds/Minor Gallery, Richmond, VA 1973 * ''Nell Blaine'' at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA 1960 * ''Nell Blaine: Paintings of Greece'' at Poindexter Gallery, New York, NY 1948 * ''Nell Blaine'' at Jane Street Gallery, New York, NY 1945 * ''The Women'' at Art of This Century, New York, NY

Sources

* *Smith, Roberta. Obituary: "Nell Blaine, 74, Painter Who Blended Styles," ''The New York Times'', 14 Nov. 1996. Web. 06 Apr. 2017. *

References

External links

Nell Blaine , artnetNell Blair Walden Blaine Nell Blaine - 20 Artworks, Bio & Shows on ArtsyNell Blaine
at the

Nell Blaine (American, 1922-1996), View from Tarr & Wonson's
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blaine, Nell 1922 births 1996 deaths Artists from Richmond, Virginia 20th-century American painters Painters from Virginia American women painters Virginia Commonwealth University alumni 20th-century American women artists American watercolorists Women watercolorists American landscape painters Lesbian artists American LGBT artists LGBT people from Virginia 20th-century LGBT people