拍品专文
This painting was executed circa 1932.
Emil Bisttram, a Hungarian immigrant, began his artistic career in New York City, studying at the National Academy of Design and the Cooper Union. By the age of twenty, Bisttram had established the first freelance art advertising agency in the country. Like many of his contemporaries in search of artistic inspiration, Bisttram headed to the art colonies of Santa Fe and Taos in 1930 where he established an art school and was a founding member of the Transcendental Painting Group. Bisttram took with him to the Southwest his interest in spirituality based on the mystical philosophy of Nicholas Roehrich and the works of Bauhaus artists Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee
Although a great champion of abstract art, Bisttram did paint figurative works in a representational fashion, such as Maria of the early 1930s. This simplified portrait reveals the artist's prediliction for surface patterning and geometric design - possibly inspired by the local Native American textiles and crafts. The stylization and naiveté of the sitter's face, hair, hands and dress also connect this painting to that of the indigenious peoples of the Southwest.
Emil Bisttram, a Hungarian immigrant, began his artistic career in New York City, studying at the National Academy of Design and the Cooper Union. By the age of twenty, Bisttram had established the first freelance art advertising agency in the country. Like many of his contemporaries in search of artistic inspiration, Bisttram headed to the art colonies of Santa Fe and Taos in 1930 where he established an art school and was a founding member of the Transcendental Painting Group. Bisttram took with him to the Southwest his interest in spirituality based on the mystical philosophy of Nicholas Roehrich and the works of Bauhaus artists Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee
Although a great champion of abstract art, Bisttram did paint figurative works in a representational fashion, such as Maria of the early 1930s. This simplified portrait reveals the artist's prediliction for surface patterning and geometric design - possibly inspired by the local Native American textiles and crafts. The stylization and naiveté of the sitter's face, hair, hands and dress also connect this painting to that of the indigenious peoples of the Southwest.