The sophistication of John Newman's compositions and sustained figure drawings places him among the finest figurative painters of the twentieth century such as Balthus, Delvaux and Pascin—a reward that is owed in part to Newman's lifelong devotion to drawing. This exceptional skill provides a unique foundation for his work in watercolours, pastels, oils and mixed media. While his palette has changed over the years, evolving into a more subtle use of colour, he has remained true to his vision. The friendship and encouragement of his fellow Canadian artists, John Alfsen, Eric Freifeld, Fred Hagan, Tom La Pierre and William McElcheran as well as two American artists, Ivan Albright and Raphael Soyer, gave him support during a period when figurative art was not fashionable. With an iconography consisting of wedding veils, children's dolls, toys and bicycles, Newman seeks to express his inner feelings rather than merely to convey a painterly impression of the external world. Throughout five decades, he has concentrated primarily on depicting the human form. The adolescent female has remained his central focus along with issues of fertility, the cycle of life and rites of passage. SELECTED COLLECTIONS Art Academy of Cincinnati; Art Gallery of Ontario; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Art Gallery of Mississauga; Art Gallery of Hamilton; the Gallery/Stratford; Rodman Hall Arts Centre; Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Algoma; The Canadian Embassy, Rome; Art Bank; Confederation Life; Smith Nixon & Co.; UBS Bank (Canada); Eaton's; Department of External Affairs, Washington, DC; Imperial Oil; Wood Gundy Private Client Investments; A.E. Ames & Co.; Mary Kay Cosmetics, Insitute Peto, Budapest Art copyright © 2010 John Newman. Text copyright © 2010 Kinsman Robinson Galleries. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No component of this website, including images, text, video and computer code, may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means—electronic, graphic, digital or mechanical, including photocopying or information storage & retrieval systems—without the express prior written permission of John Newman. Videography and editing: John MacGregor Newman