Nathaniel Larrabee received his B.A. from Trinity College and went on to Boston University School for the Arts where he received his B.F.A. in 1964.  He was awarded a Graduate Teaching Fellowship and completed his M.F.A. in painting in 1966.

Mr. Larrabee’s approach to painting and teaching has been shaped by many sources over the years.  He chose to study with Reed Kay and David Aronson at Boston University because of their dedication to teaching from the tradition of solid figurative draftsmanship, as well as a thorough grounding in the a tradition of Western painting.  Professor Kay, Nathaniel’s first serious painting and drawing teacher, became his mentor and a model to emulate.

Provoked to question previous knowledge in his graduate study with Walter Murch, he remembers clearly the first day Murch showed a Jackson Pollock painting saying, “You must deal with this to be a painter today.”  His study with Murch forced him to reconsider all the tenets of Twentieth Century painting.  This was tempered by the more traditional approach of David Aronson.  The combination of philosophies was both stimulating and provocative.

One important element in his education was a brief contact with Visiting Artist Philip Guston.  Though they only met, collectively, for a few hours, the impact was immense.  Larrabee remembers Guston’s final lecture during which he predicted the decline of serious art with the proliferation of mediocre artists and audience: “Less is demanded and less is needed.”  Guston helped Larrabee work through an impasse during a personal critique and evaluation- those few minutes enabled the younger painter to push away fear and move on.

Nathaniel Larrabee has exhibited his work regionally, nationally and in Europe.  Among gallery exhibitions are shows in New York, Washington, Detroit, Cleveland, Boston and Columbus.  International exhibitions include Toronto, Canada and Budapest, Hungary.  There are numerous reviews of his work in journals, magazines and newspapers, and he is well represented in private and corporate collections.