Elmer Bischoff
#14 Artist and Model
1968
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Elmer Bischoff
#14 Artist and Model
1968
Physical Qualities
White and black crayon, rubbing, crayon wash, and enamel paint, Sheet: 441 x 584 mm. (17 3/8 x 23 in.)
Credit Line
Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection
Object Number
1970.4.14
Early in his career, Elmer Bishoff dabbled in Abstract Expressionism like other members of the Bay Area Figurative Painters—Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, and Wayne Thiebaud, to name a few. But the artist found his forte in figurative painting. Bischoff had a long career as a professor at the San Francisco Art Institute, and would clearly have understood that the mastery of the human figure is an important part of an artistic education. This drawing is less about the nude model, who is partially cut off in the composition, than about the artist, who is drawing from the figure. By portraying the very
act in which the artist is engaged, Bischoff is encouraging the viewer to be a participant in the creative exercise.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1970; Mr. Edward Benesch, NY
In the Artist's Studio: Works on Paper from the Collection
On Paper: Figure Drawings from the Thomas E. Benesch Memorial Collection
"The Thomas Edward Benesch Memorial Collection," BMA, 1970, unpaginated.
Inscribed: lower left in charcoal: "E.B. '69"; upper left verso in graphite: "#14 Artist and Model-"; by later hand, lower right verso in graphite: "2620 Staempfle"
