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Image of Two Women in Vermillion Light

Two Women in Vermillion Light
Painting

1959
67 1/2 x 67 1/2 in. (171.45 x 171.45 cm)

Elmer Bischoff (Berkeley, California, 1916 - 1991, Berkeley, California) Primary

Object Type: Painting
Medium and Support: Oil on canvas
Credit Line: Gift of Ann Marie and Averill Mix, in honor of the San Jose Museum of Art's 35th Anniversary
Accession Number: 2003.37

Exhibition


Local Color, July 26, 2012 - January 13, 2013, New Wing, Second Floor, Central Skylight and South Metro A Galleries, San José Museum of Art.

Juicy Paint, December 22, 2009 - May 30, 2010, New Wing, Second Floor, South Metro A Gallery, San José Museum of Art.

Inside Out: Selections from the Permanent Collection, November 20, 2004 - July 9, 2006, New Wing, Second Floor, South Metro A and Central Skylight Galleries, San José Museum of Art.

It's About Time: Celebrating 35 Years, October 3, 2004 - February 13, 2005, New Wing, Gibson Family Gallery and Plaza Gallery, First Floor, San José Museum of Art.

SJMA Label Text


Local Color (2012-2014)

“Ideally, one would wish to do away with the tangible facts of things seen—of people, houses, paint on canvas, and deal directly with the matter of feeling,” wrote Elmer Bischoff in 1956. Bischoff used color to express those feelings. His work displays an atmospheric romanticism and melting, buttery brushstrokes often in an explosion of hues. Along with his contemporaries David Park (1911 – 1960) and Richard Diebenkorn (1922 – 1993), Bischoff is credited with launching the Bay Area Figurative movement in the 1950s—a viable alternative to the hegemony of New York’s Abstract Expressionism.

Two Women in Vermillion Light is a superb example of Bischoff’s mastery of color. He used broad-brushed areas of saturated orange, yellow, and olive hues, rather than line, to create the painting’s two figures. Murkiness in the center of the composition suggests a sense of depth, while fiery vermillion and white accents call attention to the surface of the painting.


Juicy Paint (2009-2010)

Painted with Elmer Bischoff's signature buttery brushwork, Two Women in Vermillion Light is considered a masterwork of the Bay Area Figurative movement. The two women do not appear cognizant of one another, having given themselves over completely to their tasks. They are the only fully recognizable elements of this painting, appearing amidst an explosion of hues ranging from sunny yellow to murky forest green, daubed, stroked, and scumbled onto the surface with joyful abandon.

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Dimensions
  • Image Dimensions: 67 1/2 x 67 1/2 in. (171.45 x 171.45 cm)

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