Oscar Bluemner

Dock’s Square at Providence, RI

1930

Oscar Florianus Bluemner was a Prussian born, American modernist artist, best known for his colorful landscapes, which often included buildings. Bluemner was born in 1867, and studied art and architecture at the Royal School of Art in Berlin. He immigrated to the United States in 1893, settling in Chicago, where he freelanced as a draftsman at the World's Columbian Exposition that same year. Unable to find work in the area, Bluemner moved to New York in 1901, but still struggled to find employment. Under the sway of Alfred Stieglitz, Bluemner fully committed himself to being a modernist in 1910. Bluemner exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show, and later with Stieglitz at 291. Despite participating in several exhibitions, including solo shows, Bluemner failed to earn a living as an artist and was forced to live with his family, in near poverty. After his wife's death in 1926, Bluemner moved to South Braintree, Massachusetts. He had a successful one-man show in 1935 at the Marie Harriman Gallery in New York City. But the artist's will to continue ran out. Bluemner died by suicide on January 12, 1938. Though his work could not find an affluent audience during his lifetime, his works have surged in popularity in the last 20 years, with paintings selling for millions of dollars.