Reginald H. Neal (1909–1992) was an American painter and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

, especially a printmaker, who created

op art Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op artworks are abstract, with many better-known pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images ...

works. Neal was born in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, England. He moved to

Decatur, Illinois Decatur ( ) is the largest city and the county seat of Macon County in the U.S. state of Illinois, with a population of 70,522 as of the 2020 Census. The city was founded in 1829 and is situated along the Sangamon River and Lake Decatur in Ce ...

. He received his BA from Bradley University and his master's degree in art history from the University of Chicago in 1939. His op art works explored optical elements that produced vibrating, flickering and pulsating effects. He also taught at the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Mexico and at the Contemporaries Graphic Center in New York. Neal participated in ''

The Responsive Eye Op art, short for optical art, is a style of visual art that uses optical illusions. Op artworks are abstract, with many better-known pieces created in black and white. Typically, they give the viewer the impression of movement, hidden images ...

'', ( Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1965) and ''Optic Nerve: Perceptual Art of the 1960s'' ( Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, 2007). Works by Neal are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Library of Congress, Princeton University, the

Figge Art Museum The Figge Art Museum is an art museum in Davenport, Iowa. The Figge, as it is commonly known, has an encyclopedic collection and serves as the major art museum for the eastern Iowa and western Illinois region. The Figge works closely with sever ...

, and Brigham Young University."Square of Two"
Art of the Print He died in 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neal, Reginald H. 1909 births 1992 deaths 20th-century American painters American male painters Bradley University alumni Op art Artists from Leicester British emigrants to the United States