Background

Albert Bloch was born on August 2, 1882, Saint Louis, Missouri, United States. 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). Then, he received some lessons from a British-born Impressionist Dawson Dawson-Watson. Besides, Bloch privately developed his painting skills in New York City, Munich and Paris.

Career

Albert Bloch started his career in 1901 as an illustrator in the 'Saint Louis Star-Times' newspaper for which he had produced comic strips and cartoons till 1903. In a couple of years, Bloch occupied the same post in the journal on literature and politics called The Mirror (also known as Reedy's Mirror). 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. 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. The subsequent years, the artist exhibited regularly, mostly at Der Sturm Gallery.

On his return to the United States in 1921, Bloch taught for one year at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. A year later, he joined the teacher’s staff of the University of Kansas where he headed the art department for twenty-three years. During this time, the artist devoted almost all of his time to teaching. 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. The book contained both the poetry written and translated by the artist.

Albert Bloch pursued his painting activity in the following years. 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. 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

More photos

• 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

• Writers

  Karl Kraus

Connections

Albert Bloch was married twice.

In 1905, his first wife became Hortense Altheimer. The family produced two children named Bernard and Walter. The first one decided to engage himself with linguistics, and the second chose the profession of a film writer.

After Hortense’s death, in 1951, Bloch married Anna Francis.

Father:

Theodore Bloch

Mother:

Emilie Scheider

colleague:

Wassily Kandinsky

1st spouse:

Hortense Altheimer

Son:

Bernard Bloch

Son:

Walter Bloch

2nd spouse:

Anna Francis

mentor:

Dawson Dawson-Watson

colleague:

Franz Marc

References

• Albert Bloch: Artistic and Literary Perspectives A collection of essays by American and German scholars discussing Bloch's relationship with other artists and the predominant influences and themes in his literary and artistic work
  1997
• Albert Bloch: The American Blue Rider A book by Margaret C. Conrads and Annegret Hoberg Adams
  1997
• Albert Bloch: Caricaturist, Social Critic, and Translator of Karl Kraus This is the first and only comprehensive monograph on Albert Bloch that provides a balanced approach to Bloch's life and work as well as taking into account Karl Kraus's pervasive influence
  2003
• Albert Bloch and the Blue Rider: The Munich Years A book by Frank Baron and Jon Blumb
  2014