Background

Ethnicity: He was a son of a father of German descent and a mother of mixed Swedish-Ecuadoran origin.

Elmer Nelson Bischoff was born on July 9, 1916 in Berkeley, California, United States. He was a son of John Bischoff and Elna (Nelson) Bischoff.

Education

In September 1934, Elmer entered the University of California in Berkeley, graduating with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1938. He continued his studies at the same university and received his Master of Arts degree in 1939.

He also received honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from several universities, including Otis College of Art and Design (1983) and California College of the Arts (1989).

Career

In 1939, Elmer started his career as a teacher at Sacramento Charter High School, a post he held till 1941, when he was drafted into the intelligence services in England to serve as a lieutenant colonel. In November 1945, Bischoff came back to the United States and started to paint with an energy, that reflected the momentum of the post-war culture. His early works are most closely identified with the Abstract Expressionism movement, that had become a major stylistic phenomenon on the East coast.

In 1946, Bischoff was appointed a teacher at California School of Fine Arts (present-day San Francisco Art Institute). There, he met several talented artists, such as Richard Diebenkorn, Frank Lobdell, David Park and Hassel Smith, who greatly influenced him.

Also, during the mid-1950's, in order to earn money, he drove a truck for Railway Express and sketched during his lunch hour. Since 1953 to 1956, he was an art instructor at Yuba College. In 1956, Elmer held a very successful one-man exhibition at the San Francisco Art Institute and from that time, he chaired their graduate school and became one of the school's most influential teachers. In 1963, he was appointed a teacher at the University of California, Berkeley, a post he held till 1985.

In 1972, after twenty years of working figuratively, Bischoff returned to abstraction. He also began working with acrylic paints and, in contrast to his figurative work, these new canvases were full of color and light. For Bischoff, the shift to abstraction was liberating, but it is his figurative work, that is the basis of his reputation and is still considered the highpoint of his artistic achievement.

During his lifetime, Bischoff was also a visiting artist at several educational institutions, including Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Yale University, University of California in Los Angeles, University of Notre Dame, University of Arkansas in Fayetteville and Kent State University.

Achievements

• Elmer Bischoff received several awards, including Ford Foundation Grant (1959), Norman Wait Harris Bronze Medal (1964) and Distinguished Teaching Award (1983). His works are kept at numerous well-known museums and galleries, including Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art in New York, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and others.

Works

More photos

• painting

  • Figure in Landscape

  • Untitled

  • Self-Portrait

  • Green Lampshade

  • #70

  • Figure with White Lake

  • Two Bathers

  • Man and Lavender Sky

  • Girl with mirror

  • Yellow Lampshade

  • Group of Houses

  • #59

  • Houses and Hills

  • Europa

  • Blue Clouds

  • Buildings

  • Orange Sweater

  • Adam and Eve

  • Girl Getting Haircut

  • Yellow Sky

  • Green Bathtub

  • Two Figures at the Seashore

  • The River

  • Boats

  • Girl Reclining

  • Three Figures

  • Woman Putting on Stocking

  • Girl Looking in Mirror

  • Glass Chandelier

  • Bay

Views

Quotations: "What is most desired in the final outcome is a condition of form which dissolves all tangible facts into intangibles of feeling."

"I’ve taught so much. I’ve taught all my life, and the number of teaching jobs I’ve had which I haven’t liked have been very few."

Membership

Elmer was a member of American Academy of Arts and Letters.

• 

  National Academy of Design , United States

  1973

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "He was a superb teacher — conscientious, responsible, articulate, full of ideas, and completely devoted to art and teaching. The students loved him for it. Although he often lectured to his class about art projects, setting up still-life arrangements, posing models, and discoursing on the basic problems of visual perception, process, composition, color, light, and technique, most of his teaching time and effort was spent giving individual critiques. To this end he set up his office as a viewing room, which he kept mostly bare to avoid distractions, so that only the individual student and his or her work was dealt with. He was a master at analyzing art and, being a great listener, he also encouraged dialogue. His relationship with students was extraordinary for the rapport that he usually achieved. His manner was relaxed and congenial. He was sensitive and gentle, but could also be very tough and critical when he thought it necessary. He always explained the reasoning behind his opinions with great clarity. He verbalized eloquently, and even poetically." — Sidney Gordin, sculptor and painter

Connections

Bischoff was the father of composer John Bischoff.

Father:

John Bischoff

Mother:

Elna (Nelson) Bischoff

child:

John Bischoff

Friend:

Richard Diebenkorn

Friend:

Frank Lobdell

Friend:

David Park

Friend:

Hassel Smith

References

• Elmer Bischoff: The Ethics of Paint
  2001
• Drawings of Elmer Bischoff: From the Collections of Family and Friends
  1993
• Elmer Bischoff: Paintings from the Figurative Period, 1954-1970 .
  1990