Oscar Florianus Bluemner

Oscar Bluemner (June 21, 1867 – January 12, 1938), born as Friedrich Julius Oskar Blümner[1] and since 1933, known as Oscar Florianus Bluemner,[2] was a German-born American Modernist painter. Bluemner was born as Friedrich Julius Oskar Blümner in Prenzlau, Germany on June 21, 1867. In 1908 he met Alfred Stieglitz, who introduced him to the artistic innovations of the European and American avant-garde. By 1910, Bluemner had decided to pursue painting full-time rather than architecture.

He exhibited in the 1913 Armory Show. Then in 1915 Stieglitz gave him a solo exhibition at his gallery, 291. Despite participating in several exhibitions, including solo shows, for the next ten years Bluemner failed to sell many paintings and lived with his family in near-poverty. After his wife’s death in 1926, Bluemner moved to South Braintree, Massachusetts. He committed suicide on January 12, 1938.