Roy Newell was an American abstract painter. He was born in Manhattan's Lower East side on May 10, 1914 and died of cancer on November 22, 2006 in Manhattan. His paintings show great coloured rectangles in chromatic harmony. He took part in the Group of American Abstract Expressionists and was also a founding member of 8th Street Artist Club, which also included Willem de Kooning, Arshile Gorky, Franz Kline and Philip Pavia.
Newell was self-taught. Newell was not a very prolific painter; the number of his works is less than 100, because he constantly repainted the coloured areas with new colours, until he was satisfied with the result, which seldom happened. Due to his continued reworkings of his art, some of his paintings became up to an inch thick. He sold very few of his paintings. However, his works are part of the collections of museums such as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Seymour Hacker, the New York University Art Collection, the de Kooning Estate and Edvard Leiber among others. His influences include Cezanne and Kasimir Malevich.
Edvard Lieber (author of Willem DeKooning Reflections in the Studio) introduced Roy Newell to John Woodward of Woodward Gallery, NYC in 1995. Director John Woodward photographed and inventoried all Newell’s paintings. From January 18- March 9, 1996 Woodward Gallery hosted Newell’s largest exhibition to date. “Roy Newell: Lifelines: 1955- 1995” was a 40 year retrospective and his first one-man show in a decade. It featured 23 paintings. The critical review of that exhibition was written by Nick Paumgarten “Grumpy Old Artist Gets His Due”, NY Observer, February 24, 1996. Press photos of the opening reception documented the large turnout of guests to celebrate this talented artist.