Elmer Bischoff

UNTITLED

The Dayton Art Institute is pleased to announce an important new addition to the permanent collection, a large painting by noted American artist Elmer Bischoff (1916–1991). This oil on canvas, dating from 1952, is the gift of Adelie L. Bishcoff, the artist’s widow. It now hangs in Gallery 202 of the Dicke American Wing of American Art, a stunning companion to the Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Norman Lewis paintings nearby.

Like de Kooning, Motherwell and Lewis, Elmer Bischoff was an Abstract Expressionist painter. This means his subject was often the color itself on the canvas and the emotions color can convey. We may look for a story, but not see it. What is there visually, for certain, is the energy of the artist’s hand and the drama of lines and colors that collide with each other.

Former DAI Director & CEO Jan Driesbach, who was instrumental in negotiating the gift of the Bischoff to the museum, said: “We are thrilled to add a Bischoff to the permanent collection. It is a dynamic image that will stir the imaginations of our visitors. It also helps us to tell the story of what was happening on the West Coast while abstraction was all the rage in New York—we see that powerful abstraction was a coast to coast phenomenon.”