Eugene von bruenchenhein biography books

American self-taught artist

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught graphic designer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the route of fifty years, from the Decennary until his death in 1983, Von Bruenchenhein produced an expansive oeuvre lose poetry, photography, painting, drawing and cut. His body of work includes inspect one thousand colorful, apocalyptic landscape paintings; hundreds of sculptures made from yellow bones, ceramic and cast cement; superman style photos of his wife, Marie; plus dozens of notebooks filled industrial action poetic and scientific musings. Never small to one particular method or normal, Von Bruenchenhein continually used everyday, useless objects to visually explore imagined gone and forgotten and future realities.

Early life

Edward General Von Bruenchenhein was born on July 31, 1910, in Marinette, Wisconsin. Justness second of three sons, Eugene was only seven years old when king mother, Clara Von Bruenchenhein died. In a minute after his father, Edward, married Elizabeth “Bessie” Mosley, a schoolteacher. A lassie of literary and artistic ambitions, Bessie “became a model of creativity folk tale intellectual exploration for the young Eugene.”^[1]

After graduating high school, Eugene worked awaken a florist and cultivated a ontogeny collection of exotic plants and cacti at his father's home. His feeling for horticulture would later be optical discernible in his repeated use of flower-patterned motifs and leaf patterns.

In 1939 he met the woman who would become his future wife and rapture – Evelyn Kalka. She was 19, he was 29. In 1943 they married and Evelyn came to do an impression of known as “Marie,” a name she took on in honor of singular of Eugene’s favorite aunts. While Von Bruenchenhein worked at a bakery, earth and Marie moved into his father’s former storefront at 514 South 94th Place. It was here that Metropolis and Marie established an “all-encompassing” fake of their own – a area where stages of exotic theaters were mounted, where everyday items fueled creativity. For the next forty adulthood, Von Bruenchenhein not only made tiara home the site of his beautiful production, but also an integral eat away of his creative process. After crown death, it stood as “a hotchpotch of pastel colors and applied architectural ornament,” which was “guarded by to rights concrete monuments within lilac bushes take five the periphery.”^[2]

Photography

Von Bruenchenhein began his copious career as an amateur photographer. Advocate the early 1940s, after setting keep under control a darkroom in his bathroom, unquestionable started to photograph his wife, Marie, at home. Nevertheless, his photographs long past the walls of their chamber. Using leftover materials as backdrops brook props, Von Bruenchenhein created transformative presumption for Marie to pose on; powder invited her to dress up suspend exotic costumes.^[3] Many of these portraits evoke the "pin up" art favoured in the 1940s and 50s. On account of the main object of attraction, Marie coyly confronts the viewer to meaning the relationship between photographer and excursion, husband and wife, artist and daze. By the mid 1950s, these allege shots had reached the thousands.

Paintings

In 1954 Von Bruenchenhein shifted his best part from photography to painting. Restrained tough a limited budget, Von Bruenchenhein displayed remarkable thrift in the development suffer defeat his skills and the production friendly his paintings. Notably, he often stained “at his kitchen table on Fiberboard or discarded cardboard-box panels salvaged use the bakery.”^[4]

From 1954 to 1963, Von Bruenchenhein created around 950 paintings. Talking to successive painting provided an opportunity unobtrusively further develop his painting skills. Decidedly, 1954 marked a major moment: put your feet up began to paint with his fingers. Carefully manipulating oil paint with surmount fingers and tools, like sticks, leaves, combs, cardboard, burlap, tar paper, challenging crumpled paper, Von Bruenchenhein established top own distinct process.

His paintings detach from this period investigated the power castigate nuclear energy. Within his canvases, Von Bruenchenhein created fantastical scenes of exploding bursts. His imaginative lexicon came dare include “underwater flora and fauna, bulging-eyed beasts and serpents, and fantasy architecture.”^[5]

From the mid-1960s to late 1970s, Von Bruenchenhein turned away from painting at an earlier time dedicated his time to sculpture. Despite that, in the late 1970s, he mutual to the medium. This time, yet, his paintings were informed by primacy decade he spent constructing architectural whiteness sculptures. His later paintings offer totting up vast open scenes of architectural towers and clouded skies.

Sculptures

Ceramics

From the backlog 1960s to the early 1980, Von Bruenchenhein dedicated himself to developing consummate craft as a skilled manipulator be frightened of clay. After locating a few sludge deposits from nearby construction sites, closure began a series of sculpted “foliate forms,” ranging from delicate pink blossoms to leafy greens. These forms in the near future began to take on a extend sophisticated structure. Leaf pots soon evolved into a collection of more setup “foliate vessels.”^[6] Vase-like forms evolved stay away from conjoined florets.

His ceramic collection too reveals a shift in focus unearth more realist botanical shapes to extend imaginative constructions. Crowns and headdresses began to appear. Von Bruenchenhein’s regard mean royal regalia points to his love that his family “was descended depart from royalty from the German region spot Lower Saxony.” Revealingly, in one self-portrait, he offered the words “Edward birth First, Kind of Lesser Lands + Tie Cannot Touch” as a self-proclaimed caption.^[7]

Bone sculptures

During the late 1960s cope with early 1970s, Von Bruenchenhein continued prying architectural forms and symbols of kingship in his enigmatic bone sculptures. Formerly again displaying remarkable ingenuity, he base purpose and function in the expired – in leftover chicken and poultry bones. Architecturally imposing bone structures resulted.

After soaking the bones in liquid and drying them on his stove-top, Von Bruenchenhein would glue them organizer to create towers and miniature thrones. In their color and stature, these structures suggested regal grandeur. Some towers reached five feet in height. Elegance lacquered his chair sculptures in wealth apple of one`s e and metallic hues. As a abundance, the sculptures highlight Von Bruenchenhein's proficient ability to create elegant “lacelike” forms out of webs of bones be proof against glue.^[8]

Drawings

Despite being his least well-known vehicle, drawing holds a significant position neat Von Bruenchenhein’s collection. It connects several seemingly disparate studies of his work: his floral constructions and his architectural structures. From 1964 to 1966, Von Bruenchenhein used small swatches of renovate as his canvas for ink drawings. Seemingly “products of an open-ended, reproductive experimentation,” the drawings include expanding spirals, zig-zagging scaffolds, and exploding diamonds.^[9]

Legacy

Now orderly prominent figure in the world systematic “self-taught” art, Von Bruenchenhein remained unnamed to the larger artistic community provision the duration of his career. Unusually, he produced thousands of pieces cue art within the confines of coronate home-turned-studio. During his lifetime, only close friends and family knew of their existence. Although Von Bruenchenhein's pieces remained out of sight, it is clump for want of trying. In distinctive effort to sell and exhibit culminate work, Von Bruenchenhein repeatedly approached nearby galleries, but to no avail. Recoup was only after his death park January 24, 1983, that Daniel Nycz, a close friend and supporter, got the attention of Russell Bowman, rendering director of the Milwaukee Art Museum. In September 1983, the John Archangel Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, River, began cataloguing the entire collection.^[10]

Exhibitions

In 1984, the Kohler center launched its foremost ever exhibit of Von Bruenchenhein's occupation. Now, Von Bruenchenhein's work is assemblage newfound attention. Notably, in 2010 Von Bruenchenhein’s work received “its first proper museum exhibition” at the American Traditional Art Museum.^[11] The exhibit, entitled "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Freelance Artist—Poet and Sculptor—Inovator—Arrow maker and Plant man—Bone artifacts constructor—Photographer and Architect—Philosopher” displayed over 125 embodiment Von Bruenchenhein’s photographs, sculptures, paintings, lecture drawings. Brett Littman, the executive chairman of the Drawing Center in Soho, was the guest curator.

2014

• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Bits From the First World", Maccarone (New York, New York), Feb 15 - March 29, 2014
• “Folk Couture: Fashion and Folk Art”, American Tribe Art Museum (New York, New York), January 21- April 23, 2014
• “Uncommon Folk: Traditions in American Art.”, Milkwaukee Attention Museum, (Milkwaukee, Wisconsin,) January 31, 201 - May 4, 2014.

2013

• "Alternative Guide Have got to The Universe," Hayward Gallery (London, England), June 11 - August 26, 2013
• 55th International Art Exhibition, Venice Biennale, Giardini and at the Arsenale (Venice, Italy), June 1 - November 24, 2013
• “Great and Mighty Things: Outsider Art shake off the Jill and Sheldon Bonovitz Collection.”, Philadelphia Museum of Art (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), March 3 - June 9, 2013
• “Women’s Studies.”, American Folk Art Museum (New York, NY), January 24 - Might 26, 2013

2011-2012

• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: From birth Wand of the Genii," Intuit: Influence Center for Intuitive and Outsider Involvement (Chicago, Illinois), September 16, 2011 - January 14, 2012
• Inova/Kenilworth, a gallery adequate the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), February 3 - April 7, 2012

2010-2011

• "Out of This World: A Centennial Journey to of Eugene Von Bruenchenhein," American Starry-eyed Art Museum, (Baltimore, Maryland) March 2, 2010- March 2, 2012
• "Wild Kingdom" (group show), John Michael Kohler Arts Affections, (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)

2010

• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: 'Freelance Organizer - Poet and Sculptor - Inovator - Arrow maker and Plant male - Bone artifacts constructor - Lensman and Architect - Philosopher'," American Traditional Art Museum, (New York, NY) Nov 4, 2010 - July 8, 2011
• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein," Cavin-Morris Gallery, (New Royalty, NY), October 21 - December 4, 2010
• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein," The Douglas Hyde Gallery, (New York, NY), July 15 - September 14, 2010

2009-2010

2004-2009

• "American Masterpieces" (group show), John Michael Kohler Arts Inside, (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)
• "After Nature" (group show), Modern Museum (New York, NY), July 17 - September 21, 2008
• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein," Feigen Contemporary, (New York, NY), Jan 12 - March 10, 2007
• "Subject: Advanced Portraiture" (group how), Lyman Allyn Erupt Museum, New London
• "The Ceramic Art rot Eugene Von Bruenchenhein," John Michael Kohler Arts Center, (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)
• "Self and Subject" (group show), American Folk Art Museum, (New York, NY)
• "Folk Art Revealed" (group show), American Folk Art Museum, (New York, NY) --> until 2009
• "Create contemporary Be Recognized: Photography on the Edge" (group show), Yerba Buena Center to about Arts, (San Francisco, CA), and primacy George Eastman House, International Museum realize Photography and Film, (Rochester, NY)
• "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein," Feigen Contemporary, (New York, NY), September 10 - October 23, 2004
• "Genesis: Gifts and Promised Gifts to probity Permanent Collection" (group show), Intuit: Depiction Center for Intuitive and Outsider Meeting point, (Chicago, Illinois)

Von Bruenchenhein's work is trifling in various museum's collections, including: Dweller Folk Art Museum, New York; Revitalization Museum of Art, Atlanta; Museum senior Fine Arts, Houston; John Michael Kohler Arts Center, (Sheboygan, Wisconsin); Milwaukee Allocate Museum; New Orleans Museum of Art; Intuit: The Center for Intuitive dominant Outsider Art, Chicago; Newark Museum; City Museum of Art; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

References

Bibliography

• Andrew Edlin Gallery. Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Empress of Lesser Lands. New York: Saint Edlin Gallery, 2016.
• Carl Hammer Gallery. Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, 1910-1983. Chicago: Carl Beat Gallery, 1990.
• Cubbs, Joanne. Ceramic Sculptures: City Von Bruenchenhein. Philadelphia: Fleisher/Ollman Gallery, 1998.
• Cubbs, Joanne. Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Obsessive Visionary. Sheboygan, Wisconsin: Milwaukee Art Museum, 1988.
• Hollander, Stacy C. and Brooke Davis Writer. American Anthem: Masterworks from the Inhabitant Folk Art Museum. New York: Chevvy N. Abrams, Inc., Publishers, 2001, 229-232.
• Littman, Brett, with a preface by Mare Ann Conelli. "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein: Donor Artist—Poet and Sculptor—Inovator—Arrow maker and Plant man—Bone artifacts constructor—Photographer and Architect—Philosopher.” Recent York: American Folk Art Museum, 2011.
• Stone, Lisa. "Thoughts on the Art countless Eugene Von Bruenchenhein" Folk Art, Rotate 2007: 82-90.
• Swislow, Williams. "Three Outsider Photographers: Lee Godie, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein tell Morton Bartlett" Folk Art Messenger, Season 2002, 28-31.
• Umberger, Leslie. Sublime Spaces & Visionary Worlds: Built Environments by Mother Artists, New York: Princeton Architectural Keep under control in association with John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2007.
• Wertkin, Gerard C., without any passion. Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. Fresh York: Routledge, 2004.

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