Robert Blum
was one of the most prominent artists of his day. Active in progressive
artistic circles and frequently traveling and working abroad,
he came into contact with a great number of the modern stylistic
directions of the late nineteenth century. His work shows the
influence of French Impressionism as well as the tonal styles
of James McNeill Whistler and the Spanish painter, Mariano Fortuny.
Blum's vibrant
and atmospheric canvases provided the groundwork for the full
acceptance of Impressionism in America. Blum was talented in a
number of different media, and his pastels and etchings in particular
helped to make his reputation, and are extremely well regarded
today.
In Cincinnati,
Ohio, where he spent his youth, Blum was exposed to the artistic
resources of the city. He studied at the McMicken School of Design
and at the Ohio Mechanics Institute, where in the fall of 1874,
he attended a special night class taught by Frank Duveneck. However,
it was during a visit to the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
in 1876 that Blum received his first exposure to modern art. He
was drawn to the work of the Spanish-Romano School, especially
that of Fortuny and of the fashionable Italian portraitist, Giovanni
Boldini.
After studying
for nine months at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
Blum returned to Cincinnati where he worked as an illustrator
and experimented with watercolor. In Venice in 1880, he again
encountered Duveneck and the circle of Americans that surrounded
him. He also came into contact with Whistler whose work exerted
a strong influence on him, especially on his etchings and pastels.
Returning
to New York City in the 1880s, Blum became president of the Society
of Painters in Pastel, and along with his colleague in the organization,
William Merritt Chase, he helped to increase the public awareness
of the pastel medium.
Receiving
an assignment from "Scribner's Magazine" in 1890, Blum
traveled to Japan, a country which had held his fascination for
some time. Blum spent two years in Japan, working in a variety
of media and creating a group of evocative portraits of women
in pastel. He also kept a diary and wrote a three-part magazine
article about the experience.
From 1893
to 1903, Blum's career reached its pinnacle. He continued to paint
subjects from his travels in Europe and Japan, received important
commissions to create murals for the old Mendelssohn Glee Club
Hall and the New Amsterdam Theater, and painted the view from
the window of his Grove Street apartment in New York.
The majority
of the works in Blum's estate were given to the Cincinnati Art
Museum.
