Nicholas Reale

Mending Nets in Nazare, an original watercolor painted by Nicholas Reale. This painting received the New Jersey Watercolor Society Silver Medal of Honor in 1971. Nicholas Albert Reale (March 20, 1922 – November 18, 1984) was an American watercolorist with a lengthy career in art and teaching.

Reale's works have been exhibited throughout the United States and Canada, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The recipient of more than sixty major awards, he is listed in Who's Who in American Art. His works are in the permanent collections of the National Academy of Design, the Newark Museum, the Jersey City Museum, the University of Arizona, and Monmouth University.

Early life, education and military service Born in Irvington, New Jersey, his parents had emigrated from southern Italy in the early 20th century, and Reale attended Newark Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey, where he eventually joined the faculty. He was directed to the Newark Arts High School by a biology teacher in the public schools, who had noticed his exceptional sketches in the margins of his science assignments and encouraged him to transfer schools.

Upon graduation, Reale enrolled in the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. They had three children who survived them: Nancy Reale Gifford-Humphreys, Aldo Reale, and Barbara Reale, and seven grandchildren. the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Art, Princeton Art Association , Summit Arts Center, and the New Jersey Watercolor Society. The New Jersey Watercolor Society named him Artist of the Year in 1969.

Reale's work explored and overlapped several styles and palettes, with impressionistic and abstract styles predominant; seascapes were his forte. All of his known paintings have a small patch of bright red, which is usually the focal point of the composition; this became his trademark. He was influenced by the work of French impressionist and cubist Georges Braque.

Death and legacy Reale died suddenly and unexpectedly at age 62, during the opening days of a one-man exhibit at Gallery 9 in Chatham, New Jersey.

Reale's work and teaching have influenced many artists, including Alice de Caprio, the Aquamedia Group (ten women who were his students), Beth Born, Diana Patton, Patricia Tindall Sally Vaughan, and Ellen Vreeland.

The American Watercolor Society continues to present the Nicholas Reale Memorial Award in his honor

Major awards American Watercolor Society – The Arches Papers Award (1972); The High Winds Medal (1976), The Doris Olsen Klep Memorial Award (1981) New Jersey Watercolor Society Silver Medal of Honor awarded in 1971 (for Mending Nets in Nazare) and 1982 (for Homage to Henry) Grumbacher Award at the New Jersey Watercolor Society, 1981 (for Warm Passage)