Albert bloch biography
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Both German painters invited him to join their new group, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), and in December of 1911, he contributed six paintings to a shared exhibition with the newly-founded group at Munich's Thannhauser Gallery.
Upon his return to the United States in the early 1920s, Bloch had solo exhibitions at the Chicago Art Institute and the Daniel Gallery in New York.
A year later, he joined the teacher’s staff of the University of Kansas where he headed the art department for twenty-three years. Then, he received some lessons from a British-born Impressionist Dawson Dawson-Watson. Bloch continued to paint until his death in 1961.
Many of Bloch's earlier 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." Bloch also had a tendency to destroy his own works that he deemed "unsuccessful."
He signed his paintings 'AB' and was known by his initials.
Albert Bloch's works can be seen at multiple institutions, including Kansas State University and Baker University.
Due to his work, English-speaking people had an opportunity to read the writings by Karl Kraus.
Among the variety of American artists, Only Bloch managed to associate with Der Blaue Reiter art group.
Nowadays, the artworks by Bloch are included in such public collections as the Museum of Modern Art, the Jewish Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, all in New York City, the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence and the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 2011, a painting by Bloch, ‘2 works: one group, Gethsemane, plus 1 other work’ was purchased at Ketterer Kunst auction house in Munich for $191,032.
Works
painting
Harlequinade
The four Pierrots
The Three Pierrots No.
2
Souvenir
Saint Francis in the Woods
Gulls
Conversation
Impromptu
Veranda
Winter
Portrait of Mister A. M.
Portrait of a Boy
Procession with the Cross
Masked Portrait (Georg Trakl)
Portrait of a Man
The Dancer (Ragtime)
Summer Night
The Green Dress
Cityscape
Reclining Figure
Interests
Connections
Albert Bloch was married twice.
In 1905, his first wife became Hortense Altheimer.
The largest collection of his works can be found at the Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.
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The family produced two children named Bernard and Walter. The paper’s editor and publisher, William Marion Reedy, became a patron of Bloch’s after noticing his more intricate and advanced methods when creating cover illustrations for the weekly paper.His career as an artist started at The Saint Louis Mirror, where he worked as a caricaturist and political cartoonist. In 1955, he had an important retrospective of his art at the Spencer Museum of Art within the University of Kansas.
Achievements
Recognized as an artist, Albert Bloch was also a successful author and translator.
Bloch met Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc who welcomed him to partake in the first Der Blaue Reiter exhibition at the Thannhauser Gallery. Later, Bloch joined Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) formed by the artists who left the New Artist's Association.
Albert Bloch participated at two exhibitions of the newly established group in 1911 and 1912.In the years 1905 to 1908, he filled in as a caricaturist and artist for William Marion Reedy's political weekly The Mirror.
During the period from 1909 to 1921, Albert Bloch returned to Germany to live and work, an American Modernist painter who was the only American artist related to Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), an Expressionist gathering of early twentieth-century European art pioneers.
Background
Albert Bloch was born on August 2, 1882, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States. Bloch was constantly very self-critical about his work and he destroyed any picture he thought defective. He also tried his hand as a translator of an Austrian writer Karl Kraus into English.
The year of his retirement in 1947, the poetry collection by Bloch titled ‘Ventures in Verse: Selected Pieces’ was published.Bloch often referenced his readings in the Bible while drawing inspiration from the Catholic atmosphere of the city when painting. He painted in the style of Symbolism and Expressionism.
He also worked as a translator and educator. He was a son of Theodore Bloch and Emilie Scheider.Education
Albert Bloch began his artistic education at the Saint Louis School of Fine Arts (currently the Saint Louis Art Museum).
He worked at the periodical until his relocation to Germany in 1909 due to the financial support of the journal’s editor, William Reedy.
Albert Bloch settled down in Munich where he got acquainted with the members of the Neue Kunstlervereinigung Munchen (Munich New Artist's Association), including Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc.During this time, Bloch traveled to Paris and London to seek inspiration, but he eventually decided to train himself in Munich, in the artists' quarter of Schwabing.