In his early years he traveled with family and attended a number of prep schools on the east coast.
A fishing expedition to Wisconsin, with his father, fostered his love for the state which he would eventually call home.
After the war he finished his education in France and then was involved in archaeological expeditions in North Africa, and Asia.
[1] From 1936 until 1941 he was a sort of artist in residence and informal lecturer on the Mount Mary College campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, although he never had faculty status.
New also painted a number of portraits; these included Federal Judge F. Ryan Duffy, Col. Phillp Westfahl, and the last Czar of Russia.