Oscar Florianus Bluemner

Form and Light, Motif in West New Jersey (1914), held by the Hunter Museum of American Art

Oscar Bluemner (June 21, 1867 – January 12, 1938), born as Friedrich Julius Oskar Blümner^[1] and since 1933, known as Oscar Florianus Bluemner,^[2] was a German-born American Modernist painter.

Early life

Bluemner was born as Friedrich Julius Oskar Blümner in Prenzlau, Germany on June 21, 1867.^[1]

Architecture

Bluemner moved to Chicago in 1893 where he freelanced as a draftsman at the World's Columbian Exposition. After the exposition, he attempted to find work in Chicago. In 1901, Bluemner relocated to New York City where he also could not find steady employment. In 1903, he created the winning design for the Bronx Borough Courthouse in New York.^[3]

Painting

In 1908 he met Alfred Stieglitz, who introduced him to the artistic innovations of the European and American avant-garde. By 1910, Bluemner had decided to pursue painting full-time rather than architecture.

He exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show. Then in 1915 Stieglitz gave him a solo exhibition at his gallery, 291. Despite participating in several exhibitions, including solo shows, for the next ten years Bluemner failed to sell many paintings and lived with his family in near-poverty.^[3]

Later life

After his wife’s death in 1926, Bluemner moved to South Braintree, Massachusetts. He committed suicide on January 12, 1938.

Legacy

Stetson University holds more than 1,000 pieces of Oscar Bluemner's work bequeathed in 1997 by his daughter, Vera Bluemner Kouba. Often overlooked in his lifetime, Bluemner now is widely acknowledged as a key player in the creation of American artistic Modernism, with better-known colleagues such as Georgia O'Keeffe and John Marin.

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Haskell 2005, p. 11
2. ^ Haskell 2005, p. 204
3. ^ ^{a b} Corley, Erin (1960). A Finding Aid to the Oscar Bluemner Papers, 1886-1939. Archives of American Art. http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oscar-bluemner-papers-5735/more. 

References

• Haskell, Barbara (2005). Oscar Bluemner: A Passion for Color. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art. 

Further reading

• Archives of American Art (1988). Reliable Sources: a selection of letters, sketches, and photographs from the Archives of American Art. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. pp. 14–15. 
• Haskell, Barbara. Oscar Bluemner: A Passion for Color. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art (2005).
• Hayes, Jeffrey Russell. Oscar Bluemner. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1991).
• Tonelli, Edith A. (1990). "The Avant-Garde in Boston: The Experiment of the WPA Federal Art Project". Archives of American Art Journal 30 (1-4): 41–47. 

External links

• The Oscar Bluemner Papers Online includes digitized primary source biographical material, correspondence, diaries, writings, exhibition catalogs, and other printed material held by the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
• Oscar Florianus Bluemner Biography - Hollis Taggart Galleries
• The Vera Bluemner Kouba Collection - Stetson University

Persondata
Name	Bluemner, Oscar Florianus
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	June 21, 1867
Place of birth
Date of death	January 12, 1938
Place of death