Elmer Nelson Bischoff SF Bay Area Figrative Portrait of a Woman Adjusting Scarf Belt Lg Original Vintage Oil Painting
Original vintage expressionistic portrait of a woman adjusting her scarf belt by San Francisco Bay Area Figurative movement American artist Elmer Nelson Bischoff (1916-1991). The portrait has a lovely soft, sensual, and hazy dream-like quality, and was painted during the artist's figurative phase in his career, while painting with the other prominent artists of this group, Richard Diebenkorn and David Park. The painting's medium is an oil on canvas, and it is signed verso on the left side of top wooden stretcher bar, and initialed EB in the front lower left corner of the painting. The measurements are 36" x 30", (a larger work) , and the painting is currently unframed. The painting is in good original condition, however, there is a very small tear in the far right corner of the image. Please review all images in detail as part of the condition report.
Elmer Nelson Bischoff was an American painter who was born in Berkeley, California. He is recognized as a key figure, along with Richard Diebenkorn and David Park, in the development of the Bay Area Figurative movement.
Elmer Bischoff studied at the University of California, Berkeley and served in World War II. He taught at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute, and later at University of California at Berkeley.
Initially working in abstract exoressionism, Busxhoff, along with Park and Diebenkorn, shifted towards figurative art in the 1950s, leading to the establishment of the Bay Area Fugurative movement. He continued to explore both figuration and abstraction throughout his career.
Bischoff's painting's are known for their lyrical quality, influenced by his love of music like New Orleans jazz.
The Bay Area Figurative movement was a reaction against Abstract Expresssionism, focusing on recognizable imagery, particularly the California labdscape, jazz scenes, and domestic narratives.
Bischoff's early work was influenced by Picasso, and by later artists such as Clyfford Still and Mark Rothko. He also referenced 19th century romantics like Delacroix and Turner.
Despite being in a region known for its natural beauty, Bischoff rarely worked from life, preferring to paint from memory and invention. His paintings often display a tension between beauty and underlying anxieties. Bischoff's work is characterized by active, geometric shapes, a hazy and painterly style, and a lyrical quality.
Bischoff's work has been featured in retrospective exhibitions, including those at the Oakland Museum of California and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. His art is held in significant collections and institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. An influential teacher in the Bay Area, Bischoff's legacy continues through his impact on a generation of painters. Recent exhibitions such as a 2020 survey at the Marin Museum of Contemporary, continue to showcase his paintings and drawings.
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