Manuel Neri

Manuel John Neri Jr. (April 12, 1930 – October 18, 2021) was an American sculptor who is recognized for his life-size figurative sculptures in plaster, bronze, and marble. In Neri's work with the figure, he conveys an emotional inner state that is revealed through body language and gesture. Since 1965 his studio was in Benicia, California; in 1981 he purchased a studio in Carrara, Italy, for working in marble. Over four decades, beginning in the early 1970s, Neri worked primarily with the same model, Mary Julia Klimenko, creating drawings and sculptures that merge contemporary concerns with Modernist sculptural forms.

Manuel John Neri Jr. was born on April 12, 1930, in Sanger, California, to immigrant parents from Jalisco[1] who left Mexico during political unrest following the Mexican Revolution. He began attending college at San Francisco City College in 1950, initially studying to be an electrical engineer. A class in ceramics with Peter Voulkos inspired him to continue his art studies. He enrolled at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, and at California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute). Neri studied under Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bischoff, and Frank Lobdell, among others. He began to create life-sized figurative sculptures in plaster and mixed media, their surfaces often painted to accentuate the forms and gestures.

In the late 1950s, Neri was a member of the artist-run cooperative gallery, Six Gallery in San Francisco, along with Joan Brown, Bruce Conner, Jay DeFeo, and other artists. In October 1955, he helped organize "6 Poets at 6 Gallery" Six Gallery reading, a landmark Beat era event where Allen Ginsberg gave the first public reading of Howl. In 1959, Neri was an original member of Bruce Conner's Rat Bastard Protective Association. In the 1960s, he was associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement. He was married to Bay Area artist Joan Brown from 1962 to 1966, though their relationship and artistic collaboration dated back several years prior to this.

Neri taught sculpture and ceramics at California School of Fine Arts from 1959 to 1965, and taught classes in the art department at UC Berkeley in 1963–1964. He was a member of the art department faculty at the University of California, Davis from 1965 to 1990.

Neri created figurative sculptures in plaster, marble, bronze, and clay, their surfaces often sanded, chipped, or painted as a means of directing the gestural thrust.[7] From the late 1970s on he also worked in marble and created numerous figures, torsos, and heads at his studio in Carrara.

He is also noted for his work a draftsman and a collaborator on artists' books. His books include three collaborations with poet Mary Julia Klimenko, and a series of unique books that combine his original drawings with poetry by Pablo Neruda, Federico García Lorca, and W.S. Merwin.

SOURCE - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Neri (Oct 2025)