Divining the Human

An illustrated memoir by a master of portraiture. 

Spanning the worlds of portraiture, landscape, the nude, abstraction, and still life, Alexander Newley’s project fuses the fine art traditions of patient observation and draftsmanship with transcendental intuitions of the mystic. “For me, art is a moral activity,” he says, “a straining after the highest virtue of beauty and enlarged consciousness. As such, all art is essentially religious, even when it shows us the ugliness of a fallen world.”

Perhaps no contemporary portraitist has more completely captured the inner life of his subjects—or told us more about the fascinating intersection of the observable and invisible worlds—than Alexander Newley. Whether his subject is a city street, a painter’s table, a child’s face, or a matrix of abstract forms, there is a unifying and revelatory logic to his perception that is unique. This volume collects two hundred images and presents them alongside Newley’s personal reminiscence, placing each work in a fascinating narrative of self-becoming—and an often-dogged determination to stay true to his calling. The result is a compelling account of an artist’s journey in his own words, firmly setting before us a body of work that continues to evolve and explore, always affirming a uniquely “human” future.

Alexander Newley is a writer, teacher, and leading contemporary artist known for his portrait paintings. His work is in the permanent collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.