Label Text
Throughout most of his long career, Biederman has remained active in the avant-garde while choosing to work outside the mainstream, living in Red Wing, Minnesota since the 1940s. This environment has allowed him to develop his theory of Structurism, which he defines as the abstract translation of nature into pure visual elements of color, plane, and form. As well as the natural world, Biederman is influenced strongly by Cézanne and the Russian Constructivists, and began making Structurist Reliefs like this one in the 1950s, placing small, single-colored rectangles on a solid background. The works are purposefully designed as something between painting and sculpture, and are intended as a structural extension of the two.
As early as 1934 he was investigating sculpture and relief in traditional and non-traditional three-dimensional materials. He was greatly influenced at this time by Mondrian and saw in Mondrian's work the limit permitted by the "old hand medium of paint". Because Biederman advocated the propagation of machines, which he calls "the new art tools of man", his structurist reliefs act as a link between the older generations and the younger artists. Source: Bulletin, December, 1968.
Exhibition History"American Art - Third Quarter Century," Seattle Art Museum, Washington (shown at the Seattle Art Museum Pavilion), Aug. 22 - Oct. 14, 1973
"Geometric Abstraction," University of Nebraska, Lincoln, May 14 - June 16, 1974
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Dec. 1968, ill.
"American Art - Third Quarter Century," Seattle Art Museum, Washington, 1973, exh. cat. no.8, ill. p.27
"Geometric Abstraction," University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1974, exh. cat. ref. no.17, p.43, ill. pl. no.17, p.60
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.36, b/w ill. p.37
Susan V. Larsen, Neil Juhl Larsen, "Charles Biederman", Hudson Hills Press, 2011
As early as 1934 he was investigating sculpture and relief in traditional and non-traditional three-dimensional materials. He was greatly influenced at this time by Mondrian and saw in Mondrian's work the limit permitted by the "old hand medium of paint". Because Biederman advocated the propagation of machines, which he calls "the new art tools of man", his structurist reliefs act as a link between the older generations and the younger artists. Source: Bulletin, December, 1968.
Exhibition History"American Art - Third Quarter Century," Seattle Art Museum, Washington (shown at the Seattle Art Museum Pavilion), Aug. 22 - Oct. 14, 1973
"Geometric Abstraction," University of Nebraska, Lincoln, May 14 - June 16, 1974
Published ReferencesDMAC Bulletin, Dec. 1968, ill.
"American Art - Third Quarter Century," Seattle Art Museum, Washington, 1973, exh. cat. no.8, ill. p.27
"Geometric Abstraction," University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1974, exh. cat. ref. no.17, p.43, ill. pl. no.17, p.60
DES MOINES ART CENTER: SELECTED PAINTINGS, SCULPTURES AND WORKS ON PAPER, Des Moines Art Center, 1985, ref. p.36, b/w ill. p.37
Susan V. Larsen, Neil Juhl Larsen, "Charles Biederman", Hudson Hills Press, 2011
DimensionsOverall: 42 3/8 × 31 3/16 × 6 3/8 in. (107.6 × 79.2 × 16.2 cm)
Accession Number 1968.36
Classificationssculpture
Provenance(Dayton's Art Department, Minneapolis, MN); Louise R. Noun, Des Moines [purchased from the previous by 1968]; Des Moines Art Center [gift of the previous, 1968]
