Elmer Bischoff Original Vintage San Francisco California Bay Area Figurative Portrait in Profile Abstract Expressionist Oil Painting

Elmer Nelson Bischoff, (July 9, 1916 – March 2, 1991), was a visual artist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bischoff, along with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, was part of the post- World War II generation of artists who started as abstract painters and found their way back to figurative art.

Elmer Bischoff, second child of John Bischoff and his wife, Elna; grew up in Berkeley, California. He was the second-generation Californian son of a father of German descent, and a mother of mixed Swedish-Ecuadoran origin.
He entered the University of California, Berkeley in September 1934. He majored in art at UC Berkeley, receiving a B.A. in 1938, and an M.A. in 1939. World War II, however, was to change Bischoff's life. In 1941, he served as a lieutenant colonel in intelligence services in England, stationing near Oxford, and only coming back to the US in November 1945. After serving in Europe with the Air Force in World War II, he taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, ultimately heading its graduate program. He joined the faculty of the Berkeley art Department in 1963.
After the war, back in San Francisco, Bischoff found himself once more in the midst of avant-garde artistic ebullience - mixing, among other painters (and to name but two), with such artists as David Park and Richard Diebenkorn. In 1973, Bischoff was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate member, and became a full member in 1985. He won the Distinguished Teaching Award of the College Art Association in 1983, and the Berkeley Citation by a vote of the Berkeley faculty in 1985. He was a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and was awarded honorary doctorates in fine arts by the San Francisco Art Institute, the Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design, the California College of Arts and Crafts, and the New School for Social Research.
While distinct from expressionist art that came from Europe, art of the Bay Area Figurative Movement displays the immediacy and warmth that one doesn't commonly extract from abstract expressionist painting. Elmer Bischoff was older than Diebenkorn, and he had experiences in the world that led to his taking an independent turn in painting. Bischoff's quiet and lyrical paintings were serious in this way from the painting which was being taken seriously at the time; and which saw the rise of Abstract Expressionism.

Museum Public collections holding works by Elmer Bischoff:


Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, The Crocker Art Museum, (California), the Art Institute of Chicago, the de Young Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, (Washington D.C.), the Honolulu Museum of Art the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, (Kansas City, Missouri), the Museum of the National Academy of Design, (New York City), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, (Texas), the Oklahoma City of Art, the Orange County Museum of Art, the Phillips Collection,(Washington D.C.), the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, (Washington D.C.).




Elmer Nelson Bischoff
(July 9, 1916 – March 2, 1991)
San Francisco Bay Area Figurative Abstract Expressionist
Original Oil on Canvas, Hand Stretched
Portrait in Profile, Figurative
Approximately 1985
17.8 X14.8" Plus Frame
Appears to be some writing on reverse of canvas, in red ink/paint. "E" and "B" are the only two letters visible. Possibly a date under, which is illegible.
Due to some lack of complete / visible signature, painting is listed in the manner of Elmer Nelson Bischoff, San Francisco Bay Area Figurative movement oil painting.
Very good original condition. No overpaints, or restorations. A couple of minor imperfections, as shown. Please email for detailed condition report.

Contact Us:

pacificfineart@gmail.com

424-259-3290