The following information was submitted in July of 2006 by Carol Cruickshanks, and written by the artist's grand daughter Odile Laugier-Miller:

Lloyd Raymond Ney was an American non-objective artist. Known as Bill Ney, he was born in Friedenburg, Pennsylvania March 8th, 1893, the son of William W. Ney and Sadie Maidenford. He studied at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1918 he won a Cresson Fellowship to study in Europe.

In the 1920's Ney traveled to France where he studied and painted in Paris among the vital European modernist community. He lived at the Hotel de Versailles, 60 Boulevard Montparnasse. During this period Ney created his major work, "The Drinkers," Later, the artist wrote extensively about the process of developing this work and the transforming experience of integrating the Modernist ideal he had witnessed in Paris.

After returning to the United States, Ney settled in New Hope, PA, an established art community between New York and Philadelphia. Unlike more New Hope artists who followed impressionism in the early 20th century, Ney embraced a more expressive contemporary style including non-objective works. He was among a group of artist known as the "Independents," who challenged the traditional subject matter of regional artists. They formed a new exhibition group. Ney was part of the "New Hope Modernist School," for most of his life as a painter.

During the period of the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) in the early 1940s, Lloyd Ney was commissioned to paint a mural for the New London, Ohio, post office. The documentation of the controversy over this mural and its modernist style was the subject of numerous letters between Ney and the Director of the Federal Arts Project. It was finally reconciled when the citizens of New London, petitioned Washington to allow Ney to execute the first abstract mural in a government post office. The original cartoon for this mural is in the collection of the Michener Museum of Art, New Hope, PA. The documents over this controversy are in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. along with much of Lloyd Ney's original writing and correspondence, including the original manuscript, Art Appreciation For The People, How To Look At Paintings, What Constitutes A Work Of Art, 1949.

Ney's career included fifteen years of exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and three of his paintings are in the museum's permanent collection. His works was been exhibited abroad in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy during his lifetime. Posthumously, the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, PA, mounted a major exhibition of the "New Hope Modernists," featuring Ney and his contemporaries, C. F. Ramsey, Charles Rosen, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Lee Gatch and R.A.D. Miller.

The prolific career of Lloyd Ney encompassed over fifty years, painting in {Paris, the Isle of Capri, Key West, and Martinique, Mexico and, of course, New Hope, PA. He was passionate about his work and unrelenting in his vision. Lloyd Raymond Ney died on May 10th, 1965.

Lloyd Ney was an American artist born in 1893. He was a part of the New Hope Modernist School for most of his career until his death in 1965. He was also a member of the New Hope painter's group known as the "Independents." He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and won the Cresson Scholarship to study in Europe.

Unlike most New Hope artists, Ney painted non-objective works. In 1991 the James Michener Museum mounted a major exhibition of the "New Hope Modernists." The show featured Ney and his contemporaries, C.F. Ramsey, Charles Rosen, B.J.O. Nordfeldt, Lee Gatch, Adolph Blondheim, Ralston Crawford, Robert Hogue, and R.A.D. Miller. Ney's works were also included in 15 years of exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum.

Lloyd Ney was commissioned to paint a mural for the New London, Ohio post office. New London town leaders, were key in proposing Lloyd Ney to the Treasury Department's fine art section. This mural was unique among all others, for it was in his signature abstract style.

Between 1947 and 1955 his work was included in numerous group shows in Europe.

Source:
Karlie Corporation

A leading modernist of the New Hope artist colony in Pennsylvania, Lloyd Ney's body of work is expressive of a well-rounded and skillful artist who constantly experimented with modernist styles and techniques. His bright use of colors, experimental styles and multi-dimensional perspectives provide corroboration for his early training in Europe.

His artistic independence truly flourished after he won the Cresson Fellowship in 1918, allowing him to study and travel in Europe during the early 1920's. It is evident from these earlier years that Ney embraced a more 'expressive contemporary style', with which he always experimented, but never departed.

Upon his return from Europe, Ney settled down in the artist colony of New Hope, Pennsylvania and became an integral part of the group known as the Independents; a group of artists who challenged the traditional subject matter of the regional artists. They formed a new exhibition group called the New Hope Modernist School, of which Ney exhibited in for most of his life.

Ney's career also included fifteen years of exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, with three of his works kept in their permanent collection.

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