albert bloch

1882-19611882-1961

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, of Czechoslovakian and German-Jewish ancestry, Albert Bloch

spent his formative years in the Midwest. He first studied art at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts (now

part of Washington University). Like many of his contemporaries,

Bloch earned a living from commercial art, and between 1905

and 1908 he worked as a caricaturist and illustrator for

William Marion Reedy’s literary and political weekly The Mirror. Noticing Bloch’s artistic talent,

Reedy provided him with a monthly stipend to study abroad. At the beginning of 1909, Bloch

sailed for Europe.

) From Hollis Taggart Galleries(

The Professor, 1909

ClownsClowns

Between 1909 and 1921, Bloch lived and worked mainly in Germany,

making brief visits to other countries on the Continent and to

America. His decision to settle in Munich, then a thriving art center,

rested largely on his language skills—he had learned German from his

parents. Although Reedy pressed Bloch to attend classes at the Royal

Bavarian Academy in Munich, Bloch never enrolled, preferring instead

to take lessons from painters working in the academic style outside

the academy .

Initially Bloch displayed little interest

in the revolutionary aesthetics that

had been advanced in European art

around the turn of the century, but a

1910 trip to Paris opened his eyes to

the works of Vincent van Gogh,

Pablo Picasso, and Odilon Redon.

The following year, he saw a

catalogue of the second exhibition of

the Neue Künstlervereinigung

München (the New Arts’ Union of

Munich), which included

reproductions of works by, among

others, Pablo Picasso, Georges

Braque, Georges Rouault, and

Wassily Kandinsky. Bloch felt an

immediate kinship with these

artists. .

Portrait of a Man 1911Portrait of a Man 1911

In December 1911, Wassily

Kandinsky and Franz Marc invited

an international group of artists to

participate in the first Blue Rider

exhibition. While the artists' styles

varied, they shared an interest in

abstraction, Expressionism, and

the symbolic and psychological

effects of color. The exhibition

included works by 14 artists,

including Gabriele Münter, Marc,

Kandinsky, and Schoenberg.

Albert Bloch, a Jewish artist from

St. Louis, was the only American

member of the Blue Rider group.

He had moved to Munich in early

1909, where he met Kandinsky

and showed six works in the first

Blue Rider exhibition, including

Head.

Head, 1911

Harlequinade 1911Harlequinade 1911

Procession of the Cross 1911

RagtimeRagtime19111911

The Four Pierrots1912

Duel 1912

Bloch established a successful career in Germany and remained there,

exhibiting his work through World War I. In 1912, he showed at the

second Blaue Reiter exhibition, and he was included in the 1912

Sonderbund Exhibition in Cologne, the most famous exhibition of

modernism in Europe at that time. The only painting by Bloch accepted for

this show was The Duel, a 1912 painting that recalls Edvard Munch’s haunting and mysterious figurative

works. That same year, Bloch showed at Herwarth Walden’s Der Sturm

Gallery in Berlin, participating in a small exhibition that featured paintings rejected from the

Sonderbund exhibit. Walden, one of the foremost proponents of

modernism in Europe, fashioned this 1912 exhibition as a protest against

the Sonderbund show that, he believed, had not adequately

represented members of the Blaue Reiter group .

The Green Dress, 1913

Boxkampf 1913

Landscape 1913Landscape 1913

Summer Night 1913Summer Night 1913 AlbertAlbert BlochBloch--

Musicians 1913

Harlequin mit drei Pierots 1914

Stilleben XI

Still Life 1914

Bloch’s acclaim also reached the American art

world. At Kandinsky’s recommendation, Arthur

Jerome Eddy, the Chicago collector and tireless

promoter of modernism, began buying Bloch’s

paintings and eventually added more than twenty-

five of them to his collection. In 1915, Eddy’s collection of paintings by Bloch comprised a one-

man show at the Art Institute of Chicago; the exhibition traveled to the St. Louis Art Museum.

Pilgrims in the Snow1917-25

Winter, 1918

Interieur 1920

 Souvenir, 1921

In 1921, disheartened at what Germany had become after the war, Bloch returned to the United States, where he lived until his death in 1961. Finding himself in dire financial straits, Bloch decided to become a

teacher. His first position began in 1922 at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, but lasted only one year. From 1923 until his retirement in 1947,

Bloch was Professor and Head of the Department of Drawing and Painting at the University of Kansas .

Bloch led a full life of painting, writing, and teaching and found contentment far from the art centers of Europe and America. He

frequently chose biblical subject matter or sweeping emotional themes of anguish or exaltation. Wishing to remain “invisible” and unwilling to trade on his European connections, Bloch and his work faded from

public view. Over time, Bloch’s reticence about discussing his former affiliation with the Blaue Reiter artists obscured his early contributions to

an important passage in the history of art .

For a Cycle of the Creation: The Sixth Day, 1922

Hospital, 1933

MountainMountain

The Blue Bough 1952

Throughout his career, Bloch destroyed any paintings that, from his point of view, were unsuccessful. Regrettably, many more early works in German collections were destroyed in the bombings of World War II, while others were banished to Switzerland by the Nazis as “degenerate

art.” Extant examples of his work from this early period are rare and valuable historical documents .

Hollis Taggart Galleries

Passing Train, 1947-1948

Throughout his career,

Bloch destroyed any

paintings that, from his

point of view, were

unsuccessful. Regrettably,

many more early works in

German collections were

destroyed in the bombings

of World War II, while

others were banished to

Switzerland by the Nazis as

“degenerate art.” Extant

examples of his work from

this early period are rare

and valuable historical

documents March of the Clowns, 1941

The Blind Man1942

Conversation 1950

The Blue Eclipse 1955 

The Grieving women, 1950-1957The Grieving women, 1950-1957--

Prodigal1958-59

Group of Three

מקורות:מקורות:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Bloch

http://www.hollistaggart./albert_blochhttp://www.hollistaggart./albert_bloch//

httphttp://://www2www2..kuku..eduedu//~maxkade~maxkade//selections_from_abscselections_from_absc..htmhtm

httphttp://://wwwwww..artcyclopediaartcyclopedia..comcom//artistsartists//bloch_albertbloch_albert..htmlhtml

http://collection.spencerart.ku.edu/eMuseumhttp://collection.spencerart.ku.edu/eMuseum

httphttp://://cgfacgfa..acropolisincacropolisinc..comcom//blochbloch//indexindex..htmlhtml

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