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Label Text The "Still Life of 1914" is a fine example of the artist's work from his German period, capturing as it does with its jagged, pointed shapes and dissociated forms much of the expressonistic flavor of its time. Source: Bulletin, November 1969. Bloch is the only American who participated in Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), an early twentieth-century group of expressionist painters based in Germany who aimed to show the spiritual in visual art. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Bloch settled in Munich in 1909 to pursue painting. He quickly made acquaintances with Wassily Kandinsky (1866–1944) and Franz Marc (1880–1916) and, at their invitation, exhibited his work in the first Blue Rider exhibition in 1911. In Still Life III, Bloch has woven the foreground and background together, giving the illusion that the elements pictured are suspended in air. The work is atmospheric—falling in line with the aspirations of the Blue Riders—in an effort to depict the ethereal. October, 2020
Exhibition History"Albert Bloch: The American Blue Rider," Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 26, 1997 - March 16, 1997 (circulated to: Stadische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich, April 16 - June 29, 1997; Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware, October 3 - December 7, 1997)

"Albert Bloch," Museum of Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, N. Y., Feb. 3 - Mar. 3, 1974

"Exhibition of Paintings by Albert Bloch", Daniel Gallery, New York, November 15 - 28, 1921, cat. no. 2

"Albert Bloch - Paul Klee: Gemalde and Zeichnungen," Der Sturm, Berlin, exhibition no. 6 (above information from Mrs. Bloch; letter dated Feb. 15, 1983)
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Nov./Dec. 1969, cover ill.

DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. pp.38 & 39

"Albert Bloch," Museum of Art, Munson-William-Proctor Institute, Utica, N. Y., 1974, cat. no.8, p.8

DMAC News, Nov./Dec. 1996, p.6

"Albert Bloch: The American Blue Rider," Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, 1997, cat. no.22
DimensionsOverall: 19 5/8 × 25 3/4 in. (49.8 × 65.4 cm)
Accession Number 1969.9
Classificationspainting
CopyrightPublic Domain
SignedAB (u,r oil paint)
InscriptionsApril, 1914 (verso on canvas)
ProvenanceArtist, Germany. Karl and Mary Mattern, Des Moines [acquired by 1969]; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 1969]
Still Life III
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Albert Bloch
Spring, 1922
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Albert Bloch
1925
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Albert Bloch
1932
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Albert Bloch
1914
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Albert Bloch
1941
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Ralph Albert Blakelock
date unknown
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Albert Marquet
c. 1898-1899
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Max Weber
ca. 1924
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
Giorgio Morandi
1959
Photo Credit: Rich Sanders, Des Moines
William Merritt Chase
ca. 1908