Howard Newman

Biography

Howard Newman was born in Elizabeth, NJ, in 1943. He received a BA from Miami University of Ohio, where he studied Architecture, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology and Classical Literature. After graduation from Miami University, together with his wife Mary, Newman entered Peace Corps training in a Special Forces training camp in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, where the two learned fluent Spanish and Survival Training. In 1967, Newman was accepted to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). In 1969 he received a BFA in Industrial Design and an MFA in Sculpture with a concentration in Silversmithing under the mentorship of master metalsmith John Prip.

Newman was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Italy in 1961, where he and his wife Mary lived in Impruneta, south of Florence. It was there Newman began making bronze sculptures. In 1973 and 1974, Newman and his wife gave birth to their children, Joshua A.C. Newman and Rachel Newman-Greene. Newman and his wife returned to Italy for another year between 1985 and 1986 and lived in Pietrasanta, north of Pisa, where he worked in La Fonderia Mariani, creating a series of bronzes, including two now on the grounds of the Newport Art Museum.

As of 2016, Newman continues to work at his private studio located in Newport, Rhode Island.

Fine Art Reviews

Howard Newman's art is recognized for its mechanical, geometric shapes reminiscent of Futurism, with elements of early 20th Century Surrealism.

Newman is best known for drawings and bronzes that are reminiscent of Umberto Boccioni's Futurist sculpture and [Raymond] Duchamp-Villon's mechanical abstractions. Newman combines elements of human figures and machines into tightly interlocking geometric shapes that he assembles from separately cast pieces.

Newman's bronzes have the refined, assured thoroughness of a master sculptor. He works in a personal style that produces objects of extraordinary elegance. The bronzes of Howard Newman speak with a refinement rarely heard today.

Newman's drawings are virtuoso.

A great stillness surrounds the bronze sculptures and charcoal drawings of Howard Newman. The artist packs his forms into skins as tight as any carved and modeled by the great Hindu sculptors.

Mr. Newman is something of a phenomenon. His art has the look of something that was born fully matured. It is unusual for a young sculptor to produce work as refined, as assured, as thoroughly knowing, as Howard Newman's.

... these acrylic and charcoal paintings and cast bronze sculptures give evidence of a sustained and fruitfully developing oeuvre. The sensibility is difficult, but the craftsmanship and power are undeniable.

A most exceptional talent, combining tremendous strength, great elegance, and a sense of profound mystery.

Newman's work appears perfectly controlled, combining line and form in a way that both denies and enhances the haunting complexity of the work. He subtly combines contradictory elements of exquisite seriousness with humor. The result of his neoclassicism is an extraordinary elegance and wit.

Newman's art genuinely expresses his own ideal of the world.

... the poignancy of his imagery is vividly revealed in sculptures of remarkable technical virtuosity.

Newman creates figures that combine the geometric precision of Cubism with the more rounded forms of Futurist sculpture.

Newman's painting strains to break into the third-dimension, where Newman is an undisputed master.

Howard Newman is his own man with a fear and vision that explains, and maybe also sees through, a great deal of the face of our times.

Newman has been represented by: Doris Bry; the Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery in New York, The Gimpel & Weitzenhoffer Gallery, New York; The Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida, and the Feingarten Galleries, Beverly Hills, California.

Restoration

Currently, Newman and his staff restore a wide range of art objects made of mixed materials, including silver, gold, bronze, tin, iron and zinc. Newman spent a decade working on projects for the Preservation Society of Newport County. He exhibited some of those restorations at the Century Association in New York City in the year 2000. Newmans’ company is responsible for the restoration of Brown University’s John Hay Library collection of marble busts.

Restoration is a bit like forensics, history and archaeology all together. You work backwards until you find where something changed or broke down to understand it.

Restoration of "The Trinity"

In 2008, Newman and his company undertook the restoration of The Trinity Crucifix, the centerpiece of The Church of St. Gregory the Great on the campus of Portsmouth Abbey. The Trinity was crafted by American sculptor Richard Lippold in 1960’s, consisting of a 22,000-foot web of gold-plated brass wire. The wires radiate from the hands of the cross above the head, suspending the crucifix ten feet above the altar. The artisans from Newmans Ltd. carefully untangled the deteriorating wire, and restrung the five miles of wire into the original configuration, along with the restored crucifix.

The restoration project received a 2009 Rhody Award for Historic Preservation by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation & Heritage Commission and 2009 Honor Award for Historic Preservation from the American Institute of Architects of Rhode Island.

Inventions

In 2011, in partnership with Len Katzman, Howard Newman started Sigma Surfacing LLC, an intellectual properties venture. He presently holds several patents pending.