Emil Bisttram (1895-1976)
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Nicolai Fechin Art for sale. Charcoals, Drawings, Paintings at Parsons in Taos
Art Biography:
Emil Bisttram (1895-1976)
The power of the Taos landscape at first overwhelmed Bisttram. "Whenever I tried to paint what was before me I was frustrated by the grandeur of the scenery and the limitless space. Above all a strange, almost mystic quality of light."
Bisttram studied under muralist Diego Rivera and in 1938 started the Transcendental Painting Group.
The intention was to "carry painting beyond the appearance of the physical world."
April 7th is "Emil Bisttram Day," a New Mexico state holiday.
"It is my conviction that art . . . is a means to unfold the consciousness
and thereby bring it to envision and experience wider horizons. . . . an experience on a higher plane of emotion and intellectual perception without which there can be no real progress in man's development."
Emil Bisttram
written by Robert Parsons
by Robert Parsons
and Ashley Rolshoven
Emil Bisttram Highest Auction Prices
"Pulsation--The Oversoul" Sales Price: $413,000
"The Family" 1932 Price: $80,500
"Penetration" c. 1938 Price: $75,000
"Flower Forms" Price: $72,000
"Combat" 1933 Price: $69,000
"STORM OVER TAOS (STORMING MOUNTAIN SCENE)" Price: $68,500
"Homeward Bound" Price: $60,000
"Red Rain" Price: $60,000
"Flower Forms" Price: $52,800
"The Gossips" Price: $50,000
"Ranchos Church at Sunset" Price: $43,700
"Homeward Bound" Price: $40,000
"Mercado" Price: $35,950
Fine Art prices have risen steadily. Please contact the Gallery for the latest prices and current inventory.
Parsons does not offer Emil Bisttram reproductions, because no reproduction can compare to the real paintings.
Parsons invites you to visit the Galleries to experience the unmatched beauty of the real art.
Emil Bisttram art works include: “Oversoul,” “Pueblo Woman,” “The Chief,” “Kachinas,” and “Medicine Man”.
Emil Bisttram Timeline:
Emil Bisttram (1895-1976)
In 1895 Bisttram was born in Hungary close to the Romanian border .
He was raised in New York City, after his family immigrated there when he was 11.
He studied at the National Academy of Art and Design, Cooper Union Art School, Cooper School of Design, Parsons, the Art Students League, the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, Chase School, The New School for Design, Roerich Academy and also with Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera.
Bisttram's teachers included: Ivan Olinsky, Leon Kroll, Howard Giles, Jay Hambidge, and Diego Rivera. Wassily Kandinsky and Nicholas Roerich were his greatest influences.
In 1919, Bisttram was married to his wife, Mayrion.
He started teaching soon after his finishing his schooling. He taught at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, and then at the Master Institute of the Roerich Museum, and later at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, Parson's School of Design, and at the Master Institute of the Roerich Museum in New York.
At 21 years old, he started Americas first freelance advertising art agency.
In 1930 he made his first visit to Taos, New Mexico.
In 1931 he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship to study mural painting in Mexico under Diego Rivera.
In 1931, he taught in Phoenix for a short while, then returned to settle in Taos, where his wife was waiting for him.
In 1932, Bisttram founded the Taos School of Art, which later became the Bisttram School of Fine Art.
In 1932, to perfect his portrait of a "Indian Girl with Basket," he first built some of the elements in wood and clay.
He completed murals for the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., The Taos County Courthouse, New Mexico, and the Federal Courthouse in Roswell, New Mexico.
In 1938 Bisttram was a founder of the Transcendental Painting Group, with Raymond Jonson and seven other artists.
During World War II, Bisttram moved his school to Los Angeles, to better serve artists in the armed forces and defense industries. Summer sessions were held in Taos, New Mexico.
In 1952 he help start the Taos Art Association.
In 1959 he was awarded the Grand Prize for his painting at the New Mexico State Fair.
In 1970, Emil Bisttram was judge and monitor for art for the Taos County Courthouse building.
Bistram was still painting vigorously in 1974.
In 1975, April 7, his birthday, "Emil Bisttram Day," was declared a New Mexico state holiday.
He died in New Mexico in 1976, after a prolonged battle with cancer.
Emil Bisttram Museum Collections include:
Anschutz Collection
Albuquerque Museum
Arizona State University Art Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Corcoran Gallery, Washington DC
Dallas Museum of Art
Denver Art Museum
Jonson Gallery of University of New Mexico
Joslyn Art Museum
Laguna Art Museum
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art
National Museum of American Art-Smithsonian
New Mexico Museum of Art
Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Phoenix Art Museum
San Diego Museum of Art
Sangre De Cristo Arts Center
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Stark Museum of Art
Swope Art Museum
The Harwood Museum of Art
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
University of Wyoming Art Museum
Whitney Museum of American Art
Emil Bisttram Murals can be found in:
The Taos County Courthouse, New Mexico
Bisttram Taos Mural
Federal Courthouse in Roswell, New Mexico
Texas
Justice Department Building in Washington, D.C.
Email: parsons@parsonsart.com