Robert Frederick Blum

Who was Robert Frederick Blum?

Robert Frederick Blum was an American artist born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was one of the youngest members of the National Academy of Design, was President of the Painters in Pastel, a member of the Society of American Artists, and the American Watercolor Society.

He was employed for a time in a lithographic shop, and studied at the McMicken Art School of Design in Cincinnati, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, but he was practically self-taught, and early on showed great and original talent.

He settled in New York City in 1879, doing his first work there for Charles Scribner's Sons, and the next year travelled to Venice, where he executed pen drawings and water-colours. After 1880, he made many annual trips to Europe. He returned to Venice in 1881 and, in 1882, he visited Toledo and Madrid. In 1884 he visited the Netherlands. He visited Japan in 1890 and spent three years there; he had been interested in that country and its art for many years.

His first published sketches of Japanese jugglers appeared in the St. Nicholas Magazine. His most important work is a large frieze in the Mendelssohn Music Hall, New York, Music and the Dance.