Peter Blume

Peter Blume (1906-10-27 - 1992-11-30) was an American painter and sculptor. His work contained elements of folk art, precisionism, Parisian Purism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Blume, born in Smarhon, Russia (present-day Belarus) emigrated with his family to New York City in 1912; the family settled in Brooklyn. He studied art at the Educational Alliance, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and the Art Students League of New York, establishing his own... more

Peter Blume (1906-10-27 - 1992-11-30) was an American painter and sculptor. His work contained elements of folk art, precisionism, Parisian Purism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Blume, born in Smarhon, Russia (present-day Belarus) emigrated with his family to New York City in 1912; the family settled in Brooklyn. He studied art at the Educational Alliance, the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design, and the Art Students League of New York, establishing his own studio by 1926. He trained with Raphael Soyer and Isaac Soyer, exhibited with Charles Daniel, and was patronized by the Rockefeller family. Blume married Grace Douglas in 1931; they had no surviving children. An admirer of Renaissance technique, Blume worked by drawing and making compositional cartoons before putting his work on canvas. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1932 and spent a year in Italy. His first major recognition came in 1934 with a first prize for South of Scranton at a Carnegie Institute International Exhibition. The... less