A widely recognized painter and printmaker, Nathan Oliveira also was an influential teacher. He was born in Oakland, California, and lived and worked in that area most of his life. He earned degrees at Mills College and the California College of Arts and Crafts.
Oliveira was associated with the Bay Area Figurative School, a movement by artists in northern California who reacted against the abstract expressionist movement in the 1950s and began to paint figurative subjects and landscapes. Many of Oliveira's prints combine abstract and realistic images. The title of his color lithograph, November 22, 1963 reflects the date of President John F. Kennedy's assassination.
As a teacher interested in experimentation, Oliveira was on the faculties of the San Francisco Art Institute, Illinois University, Cornell University, and Stanford University.
[This is a modified excerpt from the interactive companion program to the videodisc American Art from the National Gallery of Art. Produced by the Department of Education Resources, this teaching resource is one of the Gallery's free-loan educational programs.]