Stephen Cornelius Roberts (born 1952) is an American

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

best known for his painting series of eight murals in the Memorial Chamber of the

Nebraska State Capitol The Nebraska State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Nebraska and is located in downtown Lincoln. Designed by New York architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1920, it was constructed of Indiana limestone from 1922 to 193 ...

Life and career

Stephen Cornelius Roberts was born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

in 1952. Roberts’ original focus was as a serious musician and went to California to pursue a recording contract with a friend. In 1979 he switched his attention to art as his professional direction. Roberts graduated from the

University of Nebraska at Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...

, with a Bachelor of Fine Art degree in painting (under painter Peter Hill) in 1976. Roberts became a full-time artist in 1979. In 1981, with advice and encouragement from

Ivan Karp Ivan C. Karp (June 4, 1926 – June 28, 2012) was an American art dealer, gallerist and author instrumental in the emergence of pop art and the development of Manhattan's SoHo gallery district in the 1960s. Ivan Karp was born in the Bronx and gr ...

, he went to New York City to find a gallery and was accepted into a small gallery at the time. By October 1990, Roberts was represented by the Allan Stone Gallery in New York City (the gallery of artists such as

Wayne Thiebaud Morton Wayne Thiebaud ( ; November 15, 1920 – December 25, 2021) was an American painter known for his colorful works depicting commonplace objects—pies, lipsticks, paint cans, ice cream cones, pastries, and hot dogs—as well as for his la ...

Richard Estes Richard Estes (born May 14, 1932 in Kewanee, Illinois) is an American artist, best known for his photorealist paintings. The paintings generally consist of reflective, clean, and inanimate city and geometric landscapes. He is regarded as one of ...

, and William Beckman). In February 1991, Allan Stone said of Roberts, ″I see a lot of figure painting. I think he obertsis especially talented. Besides a strong technical facility, Roberts brings an essential sense of theatricality to his paintings as well as that elusive 'X quality' necessary to their success.″ Roberts' main subject matter is the human figure in narrative and portrait form. The figures in his paintings and drawings are typically life size or larger, some reaching 12 feet in height. Roberts' artwork has been exhibited throughout the country including ''Tête-À-Tête: Portraits In Dialogue'' at Allan Stone Projects, New York, NY; ''The Body Revealed: 200 Years of the American Nude,'' New Britain Museum of Art, New Britain, CT; ''The Perception of Appearance: A Decade of Contemporary American Figure Drawing,'' Frye Art Museum, Seattle, WA ''and Disrobed'' at Allan Stone Projects, New York, NY.

Influences and process

Roberts’ artistic influences are mostly from Greek and Roman Art and traditional European painting from the Renaissance onward. He works mainly from photographic references, but he does not grid or project them. He spends much of his time freehand drawing in the process of doing his paintings. Roberts’ painting process requires many thin layers of paint in order to achieve the desired effects and the work develops over months and sometimes years until completion. In his drawings he also spends much of the time layering. He usually uses pastel or conte with white highlights and works them up much like his paintings.

Nebraska State Capitol

In 1990, the Nebraska Capitol Mural Commission invited Roberts to participate in a mural competition for eight panels in the Nebraska State Capitol's Memorial Chamber on the 14th floor. Roberts competed against

Vincent Desiderio Vincent Desiderio (born 1955) is an American realist painter. In 2005 he was on the teaching staff at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; he is a senior critic at the New York Academy of Art. Biography Desiderio was born in 1955, in Pe ...

of New York, Sidney Goodman of Philadelphia, and

Jerome Witkin Jerome Witkin (born September 13, 1939) is an American figurative artist whose paintings deal with political, social and cultural themes, along with serious portraiture that melds the sitter's social position with a speaking likeness that reveals ...

of New York. The commission awarded Roberts the eight-mural project on February 20, 1991. The

State of Nebraska Nebraska () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas ...

dedicated the murals on

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...

, November 11, 1996, and Roberts completed touch-ups in 1997. The whole process was documented in a one-hour

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Nebraska Public Media, formerly Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET), is a state network of public radio and television stations in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is operated by the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications Commission (NETC) ...

documentary entitled
Capitol Murals
"

Public Commissions by Roberts

Nebraska State Capitol, Memorial Chamber

*''The Ideal of International Law'' (1996) *''The Perils of Fire'' (1996) *''The Ideal of Freedom'' (1996) *''The Scourge of Poverty'' (1996) *''The Ideal of Universal Peace'' (1996) *''The Scourge of Plague'' (1996) *''The Ideal of Self-Determination'' (1996) *''The Scourge of Famine'' (1996)

Norfolk Veterans’ Homes, Norfolk, Nebraska

*Veterans' Home mural (2001)

University of Nebraska-Lincoln A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
, Othmer Hall

*''

Donald Othmer Donald Frederick Othmer (May 11, 1904 – November 1, 1995) was an American professor of chemical engineering, an inventor, multi-millionaire and philanthropist, whose most famous work is the ''Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, ...

'' (2002)

University of Nebraska Medical Center The University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) is a public academic health science center in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1869 and chartered as a private medical college in 1881, UNMC became part of the University of Nebraska System in 1902. R ...
, Sorrell Center

*''The Physician'' (2008)

References

External links

* http://www.stephencorneliusroberts.com * https://mona.unk.edu/collection/robste1.shtml * http://capitol.nebraska.gov/building/rooms/memorial-chamber/ * http://www.allanstoneprojects.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Stephen Cornelius 20th-century American painters 20th-century American male artists American male painters 21st-century American painters 21st-century American male artists American contemporary painters American realist painters Artists from Omaha, Nebraska University of Nebraska Omaha alumni 1952 births Living people