Emil Bisttram

Emil James Bisttram (1895-1976)

Bisttram, who left his native Hungary as a young boy, began a career as a commercial artist in New York. He then changed direction, studying successively at the National Academy of Design, Cooper Union, and The Art Students League and with Howard Giles at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. Bisttram developed into an accomplished teacher in his own right during this period. In 1930 he traveled to New Mexico for a 3-month stay finding it difficult to adjust at first to the strong light and color. He then went to Mexico, supported by a Guggenheim grant to study fresco techniques with Diego Rivera. After returning to Taos (1932) he started Heptagon Gallery, probably the first commercial gallery in town and the Taos School of Art with a decidedly avant-garde curriculum. Bisttrams own style, which reflected the extent of his taste and interests, ranged from a broad calm 1930’s classicism to cosmic abstractions based on Jay Hambridges Dynamic Symmetry theory. In 1938, Bisttram founded the New Mexico Transcendental Artist group and in 1952 cofounded the Taos Art Association.

Source: Art in New Mexcio, 1900-1945 Path to Taos & Santa Fe by Eldredge, Schimmel & Truettner.