Form and Color Study, No. 9: Railway Bridge

Original Language TitleForm - u. Farbenübung, No. 9: Eisenbahnbrücke

Artist Albert Bloch (American, 1882 - 1961)

Date1913

MediumWatercolor on paper

DimensionsSheet: 13 1/8 × 9 3/16 inches (33.34 × 23.34 cm)
Framed: 21 × 17 × 1 1/2 inches (53.34 × 43.18 × 3.81 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Albert Bloch Foundation in honor of the 75th anniversary of The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Object number2011.45

SignedRecto, lower right: "AB" [monogram]

Inscribedrecto, lower left: "9."; verso, upper center: Form = u. Farbenübung, No. 9; Eisenbahnbrücke

On View

Not on view

Collections

American Art

Terms

DescriptionThis small, vertically oriented watercolor is composed of multiple, abstracted buildings with steeply peaked roofs and numerous windows. A bridge-like form is nestled between the buildings in the upper third of the composition. The abstracted cityscape is overlaid with multicolored circles, rays, and starbursts and enlivened by transparent washes of jewel-like color.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

Brilliant washes of color punctuated with geometric forms make up this Munich, Germany, cityscape. The scene's abstract architectural elements reveal Albert Bloch's fascination with the urban landscape. Bloch extensively manipulated the wet watercolor with his fingertips, leaving fingerprints throughout the composition. A red print is visible in the valley of the roof of the green house at the center left.

Bloch painted with the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) from 1911 to 1914. Members of the group aspired to convey spiritual truths through their modern works of art.

Provenance

Inherited from the artist by his wife, Anna Bloch (1913-2014), Lawrence, KS, 1961-2001;

Albert Bloch Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2001-2011 [1];

The Albert Bloch Foundation’s gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2011.

NOTES:

[1] The painting came to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art as a promised gift form the Albert Bloch Foundation in 2009.

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