“Barbara Nessim is an artist whose daring and prolific work, spanning six decades, defies narrow categorization. Her artistic production has straddled fine art and illustration, pushing against, and reshaping the boundaries of the often-rigid separation between the two fields. With her artworks on paper informing her commercial illustrations, Nessim always begins with line or color, independent of medium, context or application. Her vibrant colorful imagery is figurative, conceptual, and deeply intuitive. Its power and enduring relevance lies in its fusion of skillful technique, social engagement, and pop culture resonance. A Bronx native, Nessim’s artworks are the story of the evolving gender equity and shifting cultural landscapes of New York City…”

“Supported early on by prominent illustrators and designers including Robert Weaver, Milton Glaser, Seymour Chwast, Henry Wolf, and Robert Benton, Nessim graduated from Pratt in 1960 where she studied Graphic Art and Illustration. At a time in which students were encouraged to emulate Abstract Expressionism, Nessim made intimate paintings with narrative emphasis… Her non-traditional use of watercolor, monotype etching and lithography as well as embedded text in image, became signature features of both Nessim’s fine art and commercial illustration work…”

“The lengthy and impressive list of publications in which her illustrations have appeared include, New York Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, Time, Glamour, Essence Magazine, Sports Illustrated, Rolling Stone, and Ms. Magazine. Many of her initial jobs in the 1960s were for self-styled “girlie” magazines such as Swank and Nugget, akin to Playboy, which offered Nessim surprising freedom and early exposure…”            

“Alongside her artistic practice, Nessim’s academic career began at the School of Visual Arts in 1967, where she taught until leaving to chair the Illustration Department at Parsons School of Design in 1991. Her pioneering impulse propelled her to the forefront of computer-generated graphic art in the early 1980s, by way of a video residency at TIME Inc. and later through an affiliation with IBM. In the 1990s, her expansive Random Access Memories series, which treats issues of population growth, immigration, and diversity, positioned her among the first artists to drive illustrated book design into the digital sphere…”

Excerpted from bio written by Jessica Eisenthal for Barbara Nessim’s STARGIRL show in 2021.

More about Nessim

Nessim’s art resides in permanent collections at The Whitney Museum of American Art (NY), Los Angeles County Museum of Art (CA) , DePaul Art Museum (IL), School of Visual Arts (NY), Victoria and Albert Museum (UK), Szépmüvészeti Museum (HU), The World Trade Center observation deck -- pre 09/11/01 (NY), National Portrait Gallery (DC), The Louvre (France), The Cooper Hewitt Museum (NY), The Smithsonian Institute (NY), The Museum of Modern Art - Lund Konsthall (Sweden), Arizona State University (AZ), The Henry Babbage Library Art Gallery at University of Connecticut (CT), High Point University (NC).

Nessim has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions and galleries such as Derek Eller Gallery (NY), The National Arts Club (NY), The Phi Centre (Quebec), Little Big Man Gallery (CA), Bard Graduate Center (NY), Rodale Building Lobby Gallery (NY), Conde Nast (NY), DFN Gallery (NY), Sienna Patti Gallery (MA), Bitforms Gallery (NY), Centro Colombo-Americano (Columbia), Adams Landing Art Center (NY), Sangre de Cristo Arts Center (CO), Grace Gallery (NY), Shiseido Ginza Gallery (Japan), Coors Gallery (CO), The Benson Gallery (MA), Corridor Gallery (PA)

Abridged CV attached HERE. Full 20-page resume provided upon request.