See Why Hyman Bloom, the Forgotten Modernist Who De Kooning Once Called ‘the First Abstract Expressionist,’ Is Having a Comeback

If you haven’t heard of the mid-century Modernist Hyman Bloom (1913–2009), that may be about
to change. Ten years after his death, at the age of 96, Bloom is
the subject of a major, critically acclaimed exhibition at the
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and a show at
Alexandre Gallery in New York.

Willem de Kooning once said that he and Jackson Pollock both
credited Bloom as “the first Abstract Expressionist.” But Bloom,
living in Boston and removed from New York’s buzzing art scene, was
ultimately overshadowed by those giants of the American art
movement and he went on to reject Abstract Expressionism as
mere “emotional catharsis, with no intellectual basis.”

The Latvian-born Jewish artist is perhaps best known for his
exquisitely gruesome paintings of cadavers, as disturbing, and
controversial, as they are beautiful. Bloom made his first visit to a morgue in
1942 after being called in to identify the body of a friend who had
killed herself.

It would prove a career-changing experience. The artist’s
paintings went on to depict expertly mottled, decomposing skin and
the formerly life-giving organs beneath flayed flesh. They might at
first seem morbid, but by capturing death in his bold brushstrokes,
Bloom in a way celebrated life and offered an incisive rumination
on the inevitability of our own mortality.

Bloom had 13 paintings in the show “Americans 1942: 18 Artists
from 9 States” at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1942, two of
which the museum then purchased. Before the decade was out, he
would show twice at the Venice Biennale, in 1948 and 1950. A
traveling retrospective followed in 1954 and ’55, appearing at
Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art, the Albright Gallery in
Buffalo, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and the Whitney
Museum of American Art in New York.

Although he is largely a forgotten figure today, the current
exhibition of Bloom’s work makes a compelling argument for
revisiting his dark yet compelling oeuvre, showcasing the artist’s
skill as a draftsman, his struggles with spirituality, and his
deep-seated fascination with the human body. The shows
are timed to the publication of a new
monograph, Modern Mystic: The Art of Hyman
Bloom, from Artbook D.A.P.

See more paintings from the MFA exhibition below.

“Hyman Bloom: Matters of
Life and Death” is on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston,
465 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, July 13,
2019–February 23, 2020.

“Hyman Bloom: American
Master” is on view at Alexandre Gallery, 724 Fifth Avenue, 4th
Floor, New York, New York, June 27–September 28, 2019.

The post See Why Hyman Bloom, the Forgotten Modernist Who De
Kooning Once Called ‘the First Abstract Expressionist,’ Is Having a
Comeback appeared first on artnet News.