Bluemner - "The Poor Farm" Watercolor painting of red farmhouse and buildings surrounded by trees.

Oscar Bluemner • American (1867-1938)

The Poor Farm C: 1924 • Watercolor on Paper 9 1/2" x 12 1/2"

By all accounts, Oscar Bluemner was a difficult man to deal with. He was talented, educated, self-aggrandizing, and so stubborn that this penniless artist once brought down a political machine in the Bronx, New York. Think of what he would have accomplished if he had money.

Bluemner was a brilliant architecture and painting student in Berlin before deciding to share his talents with America, moving here in 1892. though never fully employed, he managed to work on the design for New York’s Bronx Borough Courthouse in 1904. Unfortunately, Building Inspector Michael J. Garvin, took full credit. Bluemner’s subsequent lawsuit exposed Garvin as a political hack and brought down Borough President, Louis Haffen. Bluemner never recovered his full fee, and, he soon turned to painting. This sharp career change improved the fortunes of modern art dealers more than it did for poor Oscar Bluemner.

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Bluemner loved pure color believing it carried an emotional and psychological impact. The Poor House is an excellent example of how he used primary colors to simplify an image, rather than make it more abstract. It is interesting that Bluemner’s Poor Farm is an inviting red building framed by a harsh dead tree and night sky. Most paintings of similar subjects portray them in cold, less vibrant colors. He once said, “I paint my attitude, I would be a composer, but being all retina, I see everything as color.”

Lynnda Arrasmith, Curator of Collections at the Canton Museum of Art, noted that Bluemner’s paintings are often very small, with The Poor Farm being on the large side for his work.

Although Bluemner’s early modern works were well received, his difficult personality eventually pushed him out of the art mainstream. He staggered through a poverty-stricken life, always feeling unappreciated and depressed by his lack of acclaim. In 1938 he committed suicide. By the late 20th Century Bluemner was acknowledged as a key player in the American modern art movement. His 1915 painting, Illusion of a Praire, New Jersey (Red Farm at Pochuck) sold for $5,346,500. Oscar Bluemner may have been right, but his timing was off by about 80 years.

Canton Museum of Art Permanent Collection • From the James C. & Barbara J. Koppe Collection, 997.2

4 Ways to Sound Smart When Viewing at The Canton Museum of Art

1.
“Because of his training in architecture, many of Bluemner’s paintings render buildings with an almost draftsmanlike quality.”

2.
“A German immigrant with a self-aggrandizing streak, Bluemner once brought down a major New York politician who tried to cheat him out of an architectural commission.”

3.
“Although highly acclaimed during his early painting career, Bluemner never found financial success during his lifetime. Now his paintings sell for millions.”

4.
“He is now viewed as a major modernist painter, but his personality was so distasteful he received little recognition during his lifetime.”

Bluemner Timeline. Scroll over images to see timeline.

1867

Born Friedrich Julius Oskar Blumner in Prenzlau, Germany. In America, an “e” was added to the family name to replace the native umlaut over the “u.” (Thanks to ARTe reader, Brandon Wehl for this nugget of information)

1885-1892

Studied painting and architecture at the Royal Academy of Design in Berlin. By all accounts, he was an exceptional student.

1893

Moved to Chicago, a hotbed of modern architecture, and tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to find work as an architect. Freelanced as a draftsman at the World’s Columbian Exposition.

1901

Moved to New York City where he also had difficulty finding work in his chosen profession of architecture.

1903

The New York Borough of the Bronx was dissatisfied with the designs submitted for their new courthouse. Building Inspector, Michael J. Garvin, turned to Bluemner for ideas. When Garvin submitted the ideas as his own, Bluemner sued, eventually winning and bringing down the administration of Borough President Louis Haffen.

1908

He met famed modern art gallery owner Alfred Stieglitz who introduced Bluemner to avant garde art movements in America and Europe. Fascinated, Bluemner decided to pursue a full-time career as a modernist painter.

1912

After a trip to Europe, he began to use brighter colors and sharper detail. This work was a forerunner to the Precisionist movement in Modern Art.

1913

Exhibited in the famed Armory Show in New York City that introduced America to the Modern Art movement.

1915

Stieglitz arranged a one-man show for Bluemner at his gallery, 291. This was a major step in Bluemner’s acceptance as an emerging modern artist.

1920s

Influenced by Cezanne and Van Gogh, he began adding mystical elements to his work, including large suns and moons, along with provocative night scenes.

1926

Bluemner’s wife died and he moved from New York to South Braintree, Massachusetts. His future work became simpler and more personal.

1930s

Bluemner found depression-era employment as a painter for the Federal Arts Project.

1938

After a lifetime of feeling under-appreciated and battling depression, Bluemner commited suicide in his South Braintree home.

1997

Bluemner’s daughter, Vera Bluemner Kouba, donated more than 1,000 of her father’s paintings to Stetson University in central Florida.

2011

With Bluemner’s reputation rising since the 1980s, Christies sold one of his earlier works, Illusion of a Prairie, New Jersey (Red Farm at Pochuck) for the astounding sum of $5,346,500. This painting first exhibited at Bluemner’s one-man show at Alfred Stieglitz’ famed avant-garde 291 gallery.