Adolph Blondheim

Adolph (Adolphe) Blondheim, an influential New Hope Modernist, won many prizes for his paintings but complained that they were difficult to sell. "I've got the biggest collection of Blondheims in the world," he joked. Blondheim painted in oils and watercolors in a style that was non-objective; his paintings are often flat, collage-like experiments with shapes and layers, and his etchings and lithographs are semi-abstract. He was a student of the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts, and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 1913, he married Rosa DeYoung, a niece of modernist writer Gertrude Stein, and they moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts. After teaching in the South and Midwest and several trips abroad, the Blondheims moved to New Hope in the summer of 1929 and were Bucks County residents for over twenty-five years. Blondheim was a member of the New Group and its offspring, the Independents. He painted large-scale works for display in public buildings, such as his 10' x 20' painting of Vanquois Heights, a battle scene, which hangs in the Missouri State House, but he also interpreted local Bucks County scenes, such as New Hope's "odd little train station."

Education and Training
Maryland Institute of Fine Arts, Baltimore, Maryland,1905-1910
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Teachers and Influences
Studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under William Merritt Chase, Cecilia Beaux, and Hugh H. Breckenridge

Connection to Bucks County
Blondheim was a Bucks County area resident from 1929 to 1955. He was a member of the New Group, and exhibited with them in New Hope. He was also a member of the Independents, formed from the New Group. The Blondheims lived in New Hope as well as next door to Lee Gatch's home and studio on Coon Pass, Lambertville, across the river from New Hope.

Colleagues and Affiliations
Charles Frederic Ramsey, Charles Rosen, Louis Stone, Charles Evans, Lloyd R. Ney, B.J.O. Nordfeldt , Lee Gatch, Henry Baker, Ralston Crawford, Robert Hogue, Peter Keenan, R.A.D. Miller, Inez McCombs, Charles Child, Isamu Noguchi, Joseph Crilley

Major Group Exhibitions
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1919, 1941
National Academy of Design, New York, New York, 1914, 1918
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, 1921
Chicago Society of Etchers, 1920
Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Corocan Gallery of Fine Art, Washington, D.C., 1921
Baltimore Museum, Baltimore, Maryland
Philadelphia Print Club, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
California Society of Etchers, California
Milch Gallery, New York, New York, 1928
Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, Missouri, 1926
Nierendord Gallery, 1938

Major Collections
California State Library
Vanderpoel Collection

Commissions
Monumental painting for the Missouri Capitol Building, Vanquois Heights, depicting the Battle of Argonne, Jefferson City, Missouri, 1922
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
National Gallery of Fine Art, Washington, D.C.

Major Awards
2nd Charles Toppan Prize, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1909
Cresson Traveling Scholarship, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1910
Isidor Gold Medal, National Academy of Design, New York, 1918
Gold Medal, Kansas City Mid-Western Artists Exposition, 1925
Logan Medal, Chicago Art Institute, 1920

Affiliations and Memberships
Chicago Society of Etchers
Salamundi Club
The New Group, New Hope, Pennsylvania
The Independents, New Hope, Pennsylvania