WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture

Artists›Neil Welliver

Neil Welliver

Artist

WA-00030028

Drawing

Representation

None documented

Institutional Exhibitions

Works in Collection

Assets Indexed

Authority-backed Facts

Publications Referenced

80%

Profile Completeness

Cultural Positioning

Influence Graph

No influence edges encoded yet.

Authority Records (3)

WikidataQ6989468 ULAN500015713

MoMA

Selected Institutional Exhibitions

View all exhibitions →

No image

A Penthouse Aviary

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1980–1981

No image

Selections from the Art Lending Service

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1978

No image

A Museum Menagerie

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1975–1976

No image

Landscape

Museum of Modern Art, New York

1972

Source Registry (1)

MoMA bulk 2026-05-04https://www.moma.org/artists/6305
Tier 1 · Institutional92%

About

Why this artist matters now

Neil Welliver painted large-scale oil landscapes of Maine's wilderness with formal precision and atmospheric subtlety, treating forest interiors, water, and seasonal light as subjects for rigorous investigation rather than romantic sentiment. Working from the 1950s onward, he combined close observation of natural terrain with an abstract sensibility inherited from postwar training. His monumental canvases demonstrate a distinctly modernist approach to landscape painting, balancing empirical observation with compositional abstraction.

Source: Moma Bulk 2026 05 04 · Trust score: 92% · Updated 29d ago

Graph relationships

Taste overlap and adjacency

Movement

—

Medium

Drawing

Related Artists

6 in graph

Institutional

Museum Collections

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern ArtNew York

Canonical record

Artworks (8)

WattsOS

Stump

2000 · color woodcut

Sheet: 91 x 88.4 cm (35 13/16 x 34 13/16 in.); Image: 76.2 x 76.4 cm (30 x 30 1/16 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

WattsOS

Winter Rainbow

1983 · color etching and aquatint

Image: 44.1 x 49.5 cm (17 3/8 x 19 1/2 in.); Paper: 68.6 x 71.1 cm (27 x 28 in.)

Cleveland Museum of Art

1980 · Gouache over graphite on white wove paper

33 × 48.3 cm (13 × 19 1/16 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Untitled (Self-Portrait)

1979 · Graphite on ivory wove paper

27.4 × 21.2 cm (10 13/16 × 8 3/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Reflection

1977 · Watercolor and graphite on ivory wove paper

75 × 76.2 cm (29 9/16 × 30 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Shadow

1977 · Oil on canvas

8 x 8' (243.8 x 243.8 cm)

Museum of Modern Art

Untitled

1961 · Graphite on paper

56.2 × 43.4 cm (22 3/16 × 17 1/8 in.)

Art Institute of Chicago

Artwork sources (3)

8 published of 10 catalogued · 8 with image

Art Institute Chicago
4 published4 img
MoMA
2 publishedof 4 catalogued4 img
Cleveland Museum of Art
2 published

Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 2)

2 entries · 1 sources

Stump
2000 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Winter Rainbow
1983 · Cleveland · 1 prov
Url Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number

Record

Images

Artsy

Art Institute of Chicago

Relationships

Collections3

Art Institute of Chicago Museum of Modern Art Artsy

Institutional

Representation & Collections

In collection

Art Institute of Chicago

In collection

Museum of Modern Art

New York, US

Market

Auction sale history

Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction

Auction house

Artsy

1 lot · 2026

Market

Auction History

Work	Auction House	Date	Estimate	Hammer Price
Untitled	Artsy	Feb 2026	—	$6,500

Record

Exhibitions and timeline

Group Exhibition A Penthouse Aviary

New York · 1980

Group Exhibition Selections from the Art Lending Service

New York · 1978

Group Exhibition A Museum Menagerie

New York · 1975

Group Exhibition Landscape

New York · 1972