Manuel Neri

Manuel Neri (1930, 2021) was a pioneering American sculptor and painter associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement, best known for his rough-hewn plaster, bronze, and marble figures that combine expressive surface treatments with classical human form. Working primarily in Northern California, Neri developed a distinctive approach that layered paint and gestural marks onto sculptural surfaces, blurring the boundary between painting and sculpture. His work is celebrated for its raw emotional intensity and its significant role in reviving figurative art during the height of American Abstract Expressionism.