"Morning Towers" Contemporary Figurative Self Portrait by Narcissus Robert Quagliata

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Saturated, intimate depiction of sharing a bed with a partner by Narcissus Robert Quagliata (Italian-American, b. 1942). While four fingers … Read more Saturated, intimate depiction of sharing a bed with a partner by Narcissus Robert Quagliata (Italian-American, b. 1942). While four fingers dominate the composition, the focus of the piece is the subject's eye peeking between them, as the fingers are rendered slightly out of focus. Surrounding the composition are boldly colored blankets and sheets, the colors invoking the stained glass for which Quagliata would achieve his fame. Exhibited at the Richmond Art Center, Solo Exhibition 2010.

No frame, canvas wrap, the edges are painted for a frame-less display.
Signed on exhibition label.
Tag on verso from Richmond Art Center Solo Exhibition (2010)

An Italian and US citizen, Narcissus Quagliata (Italian-American, b. 1942) was born in Rome, Italy, in 1942, where he studied painting with the metaphysical painter Georgio De Chirico. At the age of 19, Narcissus moved to the United States and studied at the San Francisco Art Institute (under two founding members of the Bay Area figurative school of painting, Elmer Bischoff and Richard Diebenkorn) receiving both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in painting and graphics. After graduating with a BFA and MFA in painting, he spent four years in a studio he built himself in what is now a National Wilderness Area on the coastal mountain range of Northern California. In that studio he made the unique artistic decision to use glass rather than canvas to capture the reality of light itself.

His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC.; Yokohama City Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Oakland Museum, California; Corning Museum of Glass, New York; and Glasmalerei-Museum Izu Kogen, Shizuoka-Ken, Japan.

Building commissions include the Public Library of Gainesville, Florida; Synagogue Acapulco Seventy, Mexico City; and in California, Oakland’s Alice Art Center, the Charles Schwab Building in San Francisco, City of San Leandro Civic Center, and Oakland’s Pacific Bell Building.

He resides and has studios in Mexico and Taiwan.

Selected Exhibitions/Commissions:
2010 - Richmond Art Center Solo Exhibition, Richmond, CA
1988 - Touchstone Center for Crafts, Pittsburgh, PA
1987 - Snyderman Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
1976 - Execution of stained glass environment for private residence in Mill Valley, CA
1976 - Execution of stained glass environment for library of Commodore Sloat School, San Francisco, CA
1976 - Fresno Art Center, Fresno, Calif.
1976 - Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA
1975 - Emanuel Walter Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1974 - Execution of a large stained glass environmental work in a private residence, San Francisco, CA
1973 - Stained glass window for the Housing Authority's Senior Citizen Residence, San Francisco, CA
1973 - Stained glass window at the Child Care Center # 3, Hunter's Point, CA
1971 - Athol McBean Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA

Awards:
1986, 1977 - National Endowment for the Arts grant

Teaching:
1970-77 - Lectured and headed workshops in glass and aesthetics at a variety
of colleges and private studios
1972-76 - San Francisco Art Institute, summer program in stained glass
1970-72 - Humboldt State College
1987 - Lecture, Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts See less