HYMAN BLOOM: THE BEAUTY OF ALL THINGS
2010 ‧ Documentary Film‧ 57 mins
Synopsis:
Born in a shtetl in Latvia in 1913, Hyman Bloom immigrated to the US with his parents in 1920. He showed an affinity for drawing from a young age, receiving a scholarship to attend classes at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in high school. After years of working as a painter in Boston, he was included in a group exhibition at MoMA in 1942, which was followed later in the decade by his selection to participate in the Venice Biennale in both 1948 and ’50.
Best known for his depictions of severed, distorted limbs of cadavers presented in resplendent color and generous brushstrokes, Bloom’s paintings are marked in their ability to both delight and confront the eye. This intense, emotive contradiction of beauty and the grotesque incites a spirited exploration of life and death.
Bloom spent most of his career engaged in a rigorous internal life of drawing, painting, and contemplation. While his work has been exhibited in major museums and received national and international attention, his radical subject matter alongside his distaste for self-promotion limited his overall exposure during his lifetime, and the scope of his contribution is still being discovered today. He continued to paint into his nineties and died in 2009 at the age of 96.
View “The Beauty of All Things”
More information about Hyman Bloom:
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FREE ONLINE SCREENING & DISCUSSION
American artist Hyman Bloom produced works of astounding beauty and probing mysticism. Through subjects that range from the human body and natural forms to Jewish brides, Bloom’s richly colored surfaces reveal a persistent quest for inner truths.
This symposium brings together academics, curators, and performers to explore Bloom’s work in the contexts of spirituality, music, and mid 20th-century art.
Marcia Brennan, PhD
Carolyn and Fred McManis Professor of Humanities and professor of Art History and Religious Studies, Department of Religion, Rice University
Henry Adams, Ruth Coulter Heede Professor of Art History, Case Western Reserve University Holland Cotter, art critic, New York Times
A performance by Mirasi Collective Sunday, February 9, 2020
