Manuel y Mary Julia Series No. 7

1977

Not on view

In the early 1970s, Neri met Mary Julia Klimenko, a poet who had begun modeling for him and a group of artists involved with the Bay Area Figurative movement. Thus began an intense relationship which extends into the present. Klimenko became Neri’s near exclusive model, resulting in numerous plaster and marble sculptures of her head, bust, and nude in full-length, as well as drawings and paintings of her over the years. This work is from a series of double portraits of the artist and his muse in which the egg-like visages of Neri and Klimenko emerge from fields of blank paper, dense charcoal, or swirling pigment applied wet. Almost primordial in form, these evocative drawings define the beginnings of an artistic relationship that would stretch for four more decades and beyond.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Title: Manuel y Mary Julia Series No. 7
Artist: Manuel Neri (American, Sanger, California 1930–2021 Sacramento)
Date: 1977
Medium: Charcoal and black oil pastel on paper
Dimensions: 22 1/4 × 30 3/16 in. (56.5 × 76.6 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of the Manuel Neri Trust, 2016
Object Number: 2016.775.4
Rights and Reproduction: © The Manuel Neri Trust
Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

By Manuel Neri

In the same medium

From the same time and place

Mary Julia's Head, Manuel Neri American, Matte opaque paints and charcoal on paper — Mary Julia's Head
Manuel Neri
1986

Gray and Brass, John Sloan American, Oil on canvas, American — Gray and Brass
John Sloan
1907

Untitled (26 III 96), Tom Levine American, Oil pastel, charcoal, watercolor, and graphite on paper — Untitled (26 III 96)
Tom Levine
1996

Manuel y Mary Julia Series No. 1, Manuel Neri American, Charcoal and oil pastel on paper — Manuel y Mary Julia Series No. 1
Manuel Neri
1977

Necklace, Meta Overbeck American, Gold, emeralds, Montana sapphires, topazes, enamel, American — Necklace
Meta Overbeck
Louis C. Tiffany
Manufacturer Tiffany & Co.
ca. 1914–15

Research Resources

The Met provides unparalleled resources for research and welcomes an international community of students and scholars. The Met's Open Access API is where creators and researchers can connect to the The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.

To request images under copyright and other restrictions, please use this Image Request form.

Feedback

We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please contact us using the form below. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.

Send feedback

Content Notice

The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents over 5,000 years of art from around the world, and our online collection reflects ongoing work conducted over the course of our more than 150-year history. You may encounter objects or images that may be inappropriate for some viewers or information that may be outdated.