A few years back on this blog, I wrote here a couple of times, Oscar Bluemner and Doppelganger, about the work of Oscar Bluemner, the German-born Modernist painter . I feel as close to his work as any artist I have come across. His color choices would have been my color choices. His modeling and blocking of forms are done in a way that came easily to me, without ever knowing of him. It all just fits my mind and eye so well that I feel a real bond with his work Hey, I was even called Oscar a number of times through my childhood– Oscar Myers is too easy a target for other kids not to call attention to it.
I recently came across a couple of crayon studies that Bluemner had done around 1911 that are coming up for auction. Even these I found fascinating in that I could see myself doing these, so much that they reminded me of early works that I had done in oil crayons. I wouldn’t be surprised to come across these in a box I have that holds this early work. The one shown here on the right, which is being shown as a crayon drawing called Meadow in Connecticut, has an added bonus on its back.
Flipping the sheet over, there are detailed directions on color placement for the painting that Bluemner was laying out in this drawing. It points out that this is from Sheepshead Bay and in pencil on the right hand side it points out that the resulting painting was a 15″ by 20″ oil that was sold in 1916 to a Mrs. Phillip Lewis Johnson. At least that appears to be the name listed although I could be wrong with my reading of the scrawl. It’s a fascinating further look into the artist’s mind and creative process.
Taking this info, I was able to locate an image of the finished painting, shown below. I can not be positive but everything indicates that it is at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the spectacular collection and art space built in Bentonville, Arkansas by Walmart heiress Alice Walton. This oil painting is actually listed at 14″ by 20″ so perhaps an inch has been lost over the years. But the vivid quality of the color has not been lost . Again, it’s wonderful to see the process of an artist whose work means a lot to you.
Redtree Times 