Oscar Bluemner
The artist we present today was unknown to me. His name is Oscar Bluemner; he was a German-born American Modernist painter. Bluemner moved to Chicago from Berlin in 1893 and he freelanced as a draftsman at the World's Columbian Exposition. In 1901, he relocated to New York City where he also was unable to find steady employment. In 1908 Bluemner met Alfred Stieglitz, who introduced him to the artistic innovations of the European and American Avant-Garde that was a breakthrough for him as a painter. He exhibited in the famous 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.
After relocating from New Jersey to Braintree, Massachusetts, Bluemner began the most important series of his career, known as the Suns and Moons, from which this drawing comes. In this group, he began to experiment with the watercolor medium in order to enhance its durability and sheen and to create a less expensive and more immediate way of producing results akin to oil painting. To his standard watercolor-and-gum-arabic mix, he added casein and more dry pigment, then he "varnished" each wash with formaldehyde.
Dear DailyArt fans ... we need $100,000 to create a new version of the DailyArt app. It will be much much better in terms of UX, design, and performance. :) Also it will have some new features! Please check out what we plan and how you can help.
P.S. If you liked this painting, you will definitely love Sonia Delaunay! Read the story of her geometric art and how she combined it with fashion!