Leonardo Nierman

(Mexican, b. 1932)

“Painting is, to me, the aperture through which it is possible to enter a certain world;
in it, the viewer may find an endless number of magic images, objects,
remembrances, associations, fears, joys, hopes and dreams.”
— Leonardo Nierman

Mexican Abstract artist and Magical Expressionist Leonardo Nierman is best known for his vibrant paintings and silver-toned sculptures. While his work is abstract, it evokes a variety of elements of nature like birds, water, lightning, volcanic eruptions, storms, and waterfalls, among others. His metal sculptures evoke movement and harmony, often making use of spirals. His paintings and sculptures are inspired by nature, classical music, and artists like Kandinsky and Miró. The Abstract, Cubist, and Surrealist movements heavily influenced his earlier work from the 1950s, while his later work has been inspired by a desire to understand nature as well as observe the connection between the cosmos and abstract art. Music has consistently been a contributing theme, as the artist explores and celebrates the intersections between the visual and aural art forms – “both have tonalities, rhythms, high-intensity areas, and resting areas.” Nierman describes his work as an interaction of colors that create a moment. His work is not narrative, nor conscious or planned. When he paints, the experience he has is like going crazy; he has no idea during creation if the work is good or not and is only aware that it is making him feel.

Leonardo Nierman Mendelejis was born in Mexico City, Mexico, on November 1, 1932, the only child of Jewish parents. His father, Chanel Nierman, was a bus inspector who would later start a small jacket factory, and his mother, Clara Mendelejis, was a bakery worker. Chanel and Clara had come separately to Mexico, he from Lithuania and her from Ukraine, both poor, and had met there in the mid 1920s. The young Leonardo studied the violin from an early age, desiring to be a violinist. His dreams changed direction when, 20 years later, he compared a recording of himself with that of Yehudi Menuhin, realizing he just did not have the gift. He felt he had wasted his time with the violin at first, but later realized that it had given him his philosophy on life, and prepared and inspired him for painting and sculpting. He began to be attracted to color but was hesitant to paint. Walking through historic Mexico City, the would-be artist found an artist's supply shop, and thought about painting as a hobby but turned away from it feeling he was unprepared. As a young man, he graduated from the Accounting School of the Autonomous University of Mexico with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1951.

Nierman did not pursue a career in what he’d been studying, choosing in 1953 to study the psychology of color and form in static and moving bodies, and he began hanging out regularly in museums. In 1956, he convinced the dean of the business school at Commerce of the University of Mexico to let him paint a mural in the auditorium. He began painting more, often in his bedroom at his parents’ house. He had been painting for some time when he was invited to exhibit his work at the Centro de Deportes Israeli in Mexico City. The young man told himself he would put himself out there, but if he didn’t sell anything that he would give it up. Fortunately, two paintings did sell, and were subsequently seen and appreciated by the owner of IFA Gallery in Washington D.C. The IFA Gallery has exhibited and helped spread word of Nierman’s work worldwide since 1959.

Nierman works in many mediums, including painting, tapestry design, sculpture, murals, engraving, and glasswork. He does sculpture work in marble, silver, gold, bronze, and stainless steel. He painted a mural for the physics department at Princeton, as well as designed the stained-glass windows for Temple Beth Israel in Lomas de Chapultepec. His monumental works are in many of Mexico's major cities and abroad, located at universities, concert halls, airports, medical centers, research centers, libraries, cultural centers, atriums and parks in countries such as Canada, the United States, Ecuador and Lithuania. He has had many notable achievements, about half from Mexican sources, and half international. He received an Honorific Mention at UNAM (1960), became a member of the Instituto de Artes in Mexico (1964), and is a lifetime member of the Royal Society of the Arts in London (1965). He received the Palme d'Or des Beaux Arts from Monaco (1969), Royce Medal (New York, 1970), League of Art Gold Medal (Chicago, 1980), Golden Centaur, and an Honorary Master's of Painting degree from the Academy of Italy (1982). He was named European Academic by the Centro Studi Di Recerch L Accademia D Europa in Italy (1984), and the winner of the sculpture competition at the University of Central Florida (1988). He became a patron of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in London (1993), received an Honorary Doctorate degree from Concordia University in Irvine, California (1995), and created a limited-edition postage stamp for the Mexican postal service (1997). The city of Chicago named December 19 in his honor (2002). He then went on to receive the Gloria Award from the International Latino Cultural Center in Chicago (2003) and the Vasco de Quiroga Medal from the Mexico City government (2010), and UNAM named a classroom designed specifically for cultural activities after the painter in 2011. He has had over 100 exhibitions in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Today, the artist’s works are in museums and public buildings in Australia, Austria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Israel, Japan, the United States, Spain, Mexico, Monaco, Panama, Sweden, and Thailand. These include the Vatican Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, Art Modern Gallery of New York, Phoenix Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Detroit Institute of the Arts, and Indianapolis Museum of Art, among others. Nierman continues to live and work in Mexico City, Mexico.

American Fine Art, Inc. is proud to feature the original works and limited editions of Leonardo Nierman. Visit our 12,000 sq. ft. showroom in Scottsdale, Arizona or call today. Our website is offered only as a limited place to browse or refresh your memory and is not a reflection of our current inventory. To learn more about collecting, pricing, value, or any other art information, please contact one of our International Art Consultants. We look forward to giving you the one on one attention you deserve when building your fine art collection. We hope you find our website helpful and look forward to seeing you in Scottsdale soon.