Skip to main content Smithsonian Institution

Additional Online Media

Catalog Data

Creator:
Bischoff, Elmer Nelson, 1916-1991  Search this
Subject:
Staempfli Gallery (New York, N.Y.)  Search this
University of California, Berkeley  Search this
Type:
Collages
Drawings
Watercolors
Interviews
Place of publication, production, or execution:
United States
Physical Description:
4.4 Linear feet
Arrangement:
This collection is arranged as 7 series. Series 1: Biographical Materials, 1930-1990 (Box 1, 0.5 linear feet) Series 2: Correspondence, 1956-1990 (Box 1, 0.2 linear feet) Series 3: Notes and Notebooks, 1976-1989 (Box 1, 0.3 linear feet) Series 4: University Files, 1954-1990 (Box 2, 0.4 linear feet) Series 5: Printed Material, 1941-1990 (Box 3-6, 1.6 linear feet) Series 6: Artwork and Sketchbooks, 1958, undated (Box 7-8, 0.6 linear feet) Series 7: Photographic Materials, 1914-1990 (Box 9, 0.2 linear feet)
Access Note / Rights:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Summary:
The papers of San Francisco painter and arts instructor Elmer Bischoff measure 4.4 linear feet and date from 1914 to 1990, with the bulk of the material dating from the late 1950s to the mid-1980s. Found within the papers are biographical materials, scattered correspondence, notes and notebooks, teaching and student files, printed materials, artwork and two sketchbooks, and photographs and negatives of Bischoff, his family, post World War II Europe, and artwork studies.
Citation:
Elmer Bischoff papers, 1914-1990. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Additional Forms:
A portion of the collection is available on 35 mm microfilm reel 2787 at the Archives of American Art offices and through interlibrary loan. Researchers should note that the arrangement of the material described in the container inventory does not reflect the arrangement of the collection on microfilm.
Funding:
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided by the Smithsonian Institution Collections Care Preservation Fund.
Use Note:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Related Materials:
Among other resources relating to the Elmer Bischoff papers are two oral histories with Bischoff; one conducted in 1965 by Mary McChesney and the other conducted in 1977 by Paul J. Karlstrom.
Biography Note:
Elmer Bischoff (1916-1991) was an influential painter and arts instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area figurative art movement that emerged in the early 1950s.
Bischoff grew up in Berkeley, California and attended the University of California (UC) at Berkeley, receiving his Master of Arts in 1939. During the Great Depression, he became involved with the Federal Art Project and taught ceramics at an arts center in Sacramento, California. During World War II, he served in the US Air Force and was stationed in England as an intelligence officer. When he returned to California in 1945, he taught at the California School of Fine Arts (now known as San Francisco Art Institute) with Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still, and Ad Reinhardt. He resigned from the school in the early 1950s when he took up figurative painting, but returned in 1956 to head the graduate program. In 1963 he became an associate professor at UC Berkeley, and was promoted to full professor in 1965, where he stayed until he retired in 1985.
Language Note:
The collection is in English
Provenance:
Two items on reel 2787 were donated in 1974 by Elmer Bischoff. His papers were donated in 1991 by his widow, Adelie Bischoff.
Location Note:
Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, 750 9th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20001
Topic:
Art -- Study and teaching  Search this
Theme:
Sketches & Sketchbooks  Search this
New Deal  Search this
Lives of artists  Search this
Record number:
(DSI-AAA_CollID)6686
(DSI-AAA_SIRISBib)208811
AAA_collcode_biscelme
Theme:
Sketches & Sketchbooks
New Deal
Lives of artists
Data Source:
Archives of American Art
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:AAADCD_coll_208811