Nathaniel Mary Quinn — On That Faithful Day For Sale

Nathaniel Mary Quinn has emerged as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary figurative painting, commanding significant attention from major institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His work occupies a unique position at the intersection of classical portraiture and fragmented psychological inquiry, earning him a devoted following among collectors who recognize his singular contribution to contemporary art discourse. It was All A Dream exemplifies Quinn's celebrated approach to the human face as a site of memory, identity, and emotional reconstruction. Executed in his characteristic mixed-media technique combining black charcoal, gouache, soft pastel, oil pastel, oil paint, and paint stick on linen canvas, the intimate fourteen-by-eleven-inch composition demonstrates the artist's virtuosic handling of disparate materials. Quinn's portraits are assembled from photographic fragments sourced from magazines, family photographs, and his own imagination, resulting in visages that appear simultaneously familiar and dislocated. The title itself evokes themes of aspiration, nostalgia, and the unreliable nature of recollection, subjects deeply rooted in Quinn's personal narrative of loss and resilience following his childhood in Chicago's Robert Taylor Homes. The textural richness of the surface reveals Quinn's painterly command, with passages of delicate rendering juxtaposed against bold gestural marks. Each element coalesces into a figure that resists easy categorization, inviting extended contemplation on the constructed nature of selfhood. For acquisition inquiries regarding this work by Nathaniel Mary Quinn, please contact Guy Hepner to discuss availability and pricing.