Bidspirit auction | Charles Biederman Abstract Still Life

Charles Biederman Abstract Still Life Painting - Charles Biederman, born Karl Joseph Bierderman (American, 1906-2004). Abstract oil on canvas still life painting, 1934. Depicting compressed traditional studio objects onto a tilted, burgundy tabletop framed by a vibrating grid of blue and black dashes. A central, flared black form replicates the silhouette of a classic vase, while an adjacent organic blue shape substitutes for decorative fruit, and a brownish-orange figure evokes a statue bust. A path of yellow dashes flows like cascading drapery, unifying the collection of reimagined objects across the flattened perspective. Signed and dated along the upper left corner. With a pencil inscribed tag affixed along the verso bearing Minneapolis Institute of Art loan no. ”L1998.39.39” and ”NY, 11/1934 #58.” Lot Essay: Born to Czech parents in Cleveland in 1906, Charles Biederman was involved in the American art scene for his entire life. He briefly studied at the Cleveland Art Institute and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) before dropping out and moving to New York. It was there that he met and was included in shows with other influential artists of the time including Alexander Calder, John Ferren, George L.K. Morris, and Charles Green Shaw. For nine months from 1936-37 Biederman studied in Paris. It was here that he met and was influenced by leading artists including Picasso, Mondrian, and Miro. He was initially influenced by the works of Fernand Leger before moving away from his style and towards totally abstract, geometric compositions. The movements of Cezanne, Post-Impressionism, and Cubism informed the evolution of his style. Although he started out painting, he abandoned two-dimensional for more sculptural works by the end of 1937. In 1941 he married Mary Moore Biederman and in the following year he moved to Red Wing, Minnesota, where he would spend the rest of his life. In the 1950s, he created the term ”Structurism” to help define his works from Constructivism and De Stijl. Many prominent collections around the world contain Structurist Reliefs including The Whitney Art Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Tate, London. In 2004, Beiderman died at the age of 98 and his estate was subsequently given to the Weisman Art Museum on the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities campus. They have organized traveling exhibitions of his works. Height: 22 1/4 in x width: 25 1/4 in x depth: 1 in. Condition: The colors are bold and bright. There are no tears or signs of restoration. There are minute networks of flaking to the paint along the lower right edge. There are three small losses to the paint: one region along the fourth yellow form from the lower right edge, the second region along the sixth blue form upwards from the lower right edge and the third along the upper contour of the large blue form at the center of the work. Light wear along the extreme edges. The work is not framed.