Ernest L. Blumenschein : the life of an American artist / by Robert W. Larson and Carole B. Larson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Larson, Robert W., 1927-2020.

Contributor:

Larson, Carole.

Series:

Oklahoma western biographies ; v. 28.

Oklahoma Western biographies ; volume 28

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Blumenschein, E. L. (Ernest Leonard), 1874-1960.

Blumenschein, E. L.

Painters--United States--Biography.

Painters.

United States.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 349 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Norman, OK : University of Oklahoma Press, [2013]

Summary:

Few who appreciate the visual arts or the American Southwest can behold the masterpieces Sangre de Cristo Mountains or Haystack, Taos Valley, 1927 or Bend in the River, 1941 and come away without a vivid image burned into memory. The creator of these and many other depictions of the Southwest and its people was Ernest L. Blumenschein, cofounder of the famous Taos art colony. This insightful, comprehensive biography examines the character and life experiences that made Blumenschein one of the foremost artists of the twentieth century. Robert W. Larson and Carole B. Larson begin their life of "Blumy" with his Ohio childhood and trace his development as an artist from early study in Cincinnati, New York City, and Paris through his first career as a book and magazine illustrator. Blumenschein and artist Bert G. Phillips discovered the budding art community of Taos, New Mexico, in 1898. In 1915 the two along with Joseph Henry Sharp, E. Irving Couse, and other like-minded artists organized the Taos Society of Artists, famous for preferring American subjects over European themes popular at the time. Leaving illustration work behind, Blumenschein sought a distinctive place in his American homeland and in fine-art painting. He moved with his family to Taos in 1919 and began his long career as a figurative and landscape painter, becoming prominent among American artists for his Pueblo Indian figures and stunning southwestern landscapes. Robert Larson calls Blumenschein a "transformational artist," trained classically but drawing to a limited degree on abstract representation. Placing Blumy's life in the context of World War I, the Great Depression, and other national and world events, the authors show how an artistic genius turned a fascination with the people, light, and color of New Mexico into a body of work of lasting significance to the international art world.

Contents:

1 From Family and Place, 1874-1893 12

2 The Finding of Self, 1893-1894 30

3 Seeking at the Source 49

4 Putting Purpose to Work, 1897-1898 75

5 Encountering a Transforming Vision, 1898 88

6 Professional Position versus Artistic Ambition 116

7 In the City of Art and Romance, 1903-1905 139

8 An Artist's Transition Back to America 161

9 Part-Time Taos Artist 175

10 Proving His Patriotism 192

11 The Productive Twenties 207

12 Tensions within the Taos Society of Artists 227

13 Depression Times in Taos 246

14 An Aging Artist in an Era of War and Peace 267

15 The Final Years and an Artist's Legacy 285.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780806143347

0806143347

OCLC:

814707437