SwissArtGallery · Documented identity

Robert Natkin

American artist Robert Natkin, born in Chicago in 1930 and deceased in 2010, developed a serial approach to painting in which geometric motifs and free forms unfold across worked backgrounds. Adopted in 1961 and pursued throughout his career, this method enabled him to develop his explorations through successive groups of works, of which the Field Mouse series offers a notable example. The son of Russian Jewish immigrants who worked in the garment industry, he studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 1948 to 1952. The museum’s collection of French post-Impressionist painting helped turn him away from illustration and towards painting. During these formative years, the use of decorative motifs and expressive colours by Pierre Bonnard and Henri Matisse caught his attention. He also discovered Paul Klee, whose semi-abstract works nurtured his interest in emotional content. An article on Abstract Expressionism published in 1949, followed by Willem de Kooning’s paintings, which he saw during a brief stay in New York in 1952, also marked stages in his development.

After several months in San Francisco, Natkin returned to Chicago. He worked at the Newberry Library and painted in his free time. In 1959, he moved to New York with Dolnick and joined the artists associated with the Poindexter Gallery. The following year, he took part in Americans Under 35 at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Begun in 1968, the Field Mouse series was inspired by a Chinese poem about the fleeting passage of time, which he knew through Ezra Pound’s translation. Compared with the Apollo works, Natkin constructed more complex compositions: diamonds, polygons, ovals and sinuous forms stand out against textured backgrounds in delicate tones, punctuated by pigments and hatching. Several paintings from this series were shown that same year at the Galerie Facchetti in Paris, in the exhibition Timeless Paintings from the USA. In 1970, the San Francisco Museum of Art organised a retrospective of his work. Natkin first put his method of applying paint into practice in the Intimate Lighting series. In 1971, he presented the first of several solo exhibitions at the André Emmerich Gallery in New York. Works by the artist are held at the National Gallery of Australia and the Harvard Art Museums.

This profile brings together identity references for Robert Natkin and paintings, drawings and works on paper documented in auction catalogues.

5 references are documented at Germann, Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer, Piguet. Each record links to its source; the amounts are not a general valuation of the artist’s work.

Works recorded at auction

Piguet

Apollo Series

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Apollo Series
huile sur toile

Catalogue period : 2025-12-10

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

Estimate : CHF 15000–25000

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Artcurial Beurret Bailly Widmer · Lot 105

Bern Series

Acrylic on paper

Original catalogue wording

Bern Series
Acryl auf Papier

Catalogue period : 2025-06-25

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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Germann

Composition

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Komposition
Öl auf Leinwand.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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Germann

Untitled, 1976

Öl auf Leinwand, auf Hartfaserplatte gespannt.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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Germann

Bath - Apollo Series, 1976

Oil on canvas

Original catalogue wording

Bath - Apollo Series, 1976
Öl auf Leinwand.

Date to be documented

Catalogue reference — sale not confirmed

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Sources and references

• Reference record
• ARTIC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
• LoC · Reference link only; institutional text and images are not reproduced.
• Met · CC0
• Documentary source

SwissArtGallery documentary note based on the cited sources. Titles, media and qualifications are provided in the profile language; the original catalogue wording remains available in each record.
Documentation updated : 2026-10-19