Michael Newberry (artist)

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Michael Newberry (b. 1956) is an American neo-romantic figurative painter residing in Idyllwild, California. His work integrates passion, intellect, and visual perception. Influenced by Rembrandt, Van Gogh, and contemporary sculptor Martine Vaugel. His major works are typically life-sized canvases. Newberry has exhibited in New York, Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Rome, Athens, and Brussels. [1]

Contents

Education and early career

Newberry began painting at age 11 and sold his first work at 17. He studied fine arts at the University of Southern California from 1974 to 1977 and furthered his education at the Royal Academy of Art in The Hague and the Free Academy Psychopolis in The Hague. [2]

Teaching

He taught figure drawing, composition, and painting at the Otis/Parsons Institute in Los Angeles from 1990 to 1994. [3]

Advocacy

He created and organized the Foundation for the Advancement of Art, which held a conference "Innovation, Substance, Vision: The Future of Art" at the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan on October 6, 2003, featuring speakers: philosophers Stephen Hicks and David Kelley, vision scientist Jan Koenderick, and sculptor Martine Vaugel. The mission of the Foundation was to recognize and promote innovative, contemporary representational painters and sculptors. [4] [5]

Critical reception

In a 2025 clip from his presentation Philosophy for Real Life, philosopher Stephen Hicks stated:

“I would say my favorite living painter is an artist named Michael Newberry. He is a contemporary painter based out of California, and I’ve been following his career and how he’s developed… What I get from viewing his work is a sense that here is someone who loves the world and loves human beings. He is very skilled at choosing things that I like to look at and spend time with—sometimes a minute, sometimes two minutes, however long I’m looking at a given painting.”

[6]


References

  1. "Michael Newberry, Author of the Atlas Society". www.atlassociety.org. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  2. "Michael Newberry, Author of the Atlas Society". www.atlassociety.org. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  3. "Satisfying the Soul: An Interview with Michael Newberry, The Atlas Society | Ayn Rand, Objectivism, Atlas Shrugged". www.atlassociety.org. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  4. "The Future of Art conference in New York — video – Stephen Hicks, Ph.D." Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  5. Holverstott, Brett (2025-06-21). "New York - Protesting the End of Figuration". Profane Art. Retrieved 2025-09-18.
  6. Hicks, Stephen (2025). "Philosophy for Real Life". CEE Video Channel. Retrieved 2025-09-20.

The Newberry Art Files: Archive of over 1500 of his works