Lucienne Bloch

Lucienne Bloch

Composer Alexander Kaloian and Bloch in Gualala, 1985 (photo: Stephen Pope Dimitroff)
Born (1909-01-05)January 5, 1909
Geneva, Switzerland
Died March 13, 1999(1999-03-13) (aged 90)
Gualala, California, USA
Nationality American
Education École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts
Known for Sculpture, painting, photography
Spouse(s) Stephen Pope Dimitroff
Patron(s) WPA, FAP

Lucienne Bloch (January 5, 1909 – March 13, 1999) was a Switzerland-born American artist. She was best known for her murals and for her association with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera, for whom she produced the only existing photographs of Rivera's mural Man at the Crossroads, painted in 1933 and destroyed in January 1934 at Rockefeller Center in New York City.[1]

Career

Background

Bloch was born in Geneva, Switzerland, the youngest child of composer and photographer Ernest Bloch.

A multi-talented artist, Lucienne attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris at 14, apprenticing with sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and painter Andre Lhote. Her close friend Beniamino Bufano also influenced her sculpture.

In 1917, the Bloch family emigrated to America.

With Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo

In 1929, she pioneered the design of glass sculpture for the Royal Leerdam Crystal Glass Factory in the Netherlands. When Frank Lloyd Wright saw her glass works and spoke with her in New York, he invited her to teach at his architectural school, Taliesin East, where she worked with artist and muralist Santiago Martínez Delgado and other Taliesin fellows.

Then, in 1931, Bloch had met and began her apprenticeship with Diego Rivera on his frescoes in New York (1931, 1933) and Detroit (1932). She also formed a close friendship with Rivera's wife Frida Kahlo, and they became each other's companion and confidant. In 1932 she accompanied Kahlo to Mexico when Kahlo's mother became ill. She was also with Kahlo in Detroit when Kahlo had her miscarriage.

Lucienne Bloch and Stephen Pope Dimitroff - 1985 Gualala. (photo: Alexander Kaloian)

A prolific photographer, Bloch contributed many photographs of Rivera and Kahlo to biographical works about them. She took the only existing photographs of Rivera's (controversially) destroyed mural, Man at the Crossroads, in Rockefeller Center Plaza in New York City. She created five portfolios of photographs of Rivera and Kahlo, including photos of Kahlo's paintings in progress, and the artists in New York City, Detroit, and Mexico.[2] The apprentices there were: Bloch, Stephen Pope Dimitroff, Lou Block, Arthur Niendorf, Seymour Fogel, Hideo Noda, and Antonio Sanchez Flores.

With Stephen Pope Dimitroff

On September 5, 1935, Lucienne married Stephen Pope Dimitroff, one of Rivera's chief plasterers. Together they created fresco murals all over the United States.

From 1935 to 1939, Bloch was employed by the WPA/FAP (Works Progress Administration/Federal Arts Project). As a WPA/FAP artist, she completed murals for public buildings, including the House of Detention for Women in New York City, and the Fort Thomas, Kentucky post office.[2] She also worked free-lance as a photographer for Life magazine. For Life she record the desperate conditions of autoworkers during labor strikes and protests that occurred throughout the U.S. during the formation of automobile worker unions.

She and Dimitroff created nearly 50 murals across the United States for religious institutions, schools, hospitals, and businesses. Dimitroff died in 1996 on their farm in Gualala, California.

Works

Art

Bloch worked in many types of media: photography, fresco, woodblock cuts, lithographs, mosaics, egg tempera, watercolor, wood and glass sculpture, terra cotta, portraits in ink, gesso, and oil.

Illustrated books

She also illustrated numerous children's books, of which the Library of Congress lists:

Private life

Bloch married Dimitroff in 1935 in Flint, Michigan.

They had three children; George Ernest Dimitroff, born July 22, 1938, Pencho Bloch Dimitroff, born August 3, 1941, and Sita Dimitroff (Milchev) born December 25, 1943.

Dimitroff and Bloch died in 1996 and 1999, respectively, on their small farm in Gualala in Northern California.

Legacy

One grandchild, her namesake, Lucienne Allen, maintains her legacy from the family farm, "Old Stage Studios," in Gualala. www.LucienneBloch.com

References

  1. ↑ Thomas, Jr., Robert McG. (March 28, 1999). "Lucienne Bloch, Muralist, Is Dead at 90". New York Times. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Lucienne Bloch | Old Stage Studios". www.luciennebloch.com. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
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