World views Book

Charles Biederman (b. 1906) has been active in the avant-garde for three-quarters of a century. From his early experiments with cubism and surrealism to the brightly colored aluminum sculptures he constructed through the 1990s, he has pioneered art forms, styles, and theories. This book presents a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of the career of this influential artist, and features full-color illustrations of dozens of Biederman's paintings, drawings, and signature three-dimensional aluminum constructions. A native Midwesterner, Biederman participated actively in the art communities of Chicago, New York, and Paris during the 1920s and 1930s, interacting with Joan Miró, Wassily Kandinsky, Fernand Léger, Jean Arp, and Pablo Picasso. His expressionist figures evolved into works of geometric abstraction, and beginning in the early 1940s he rejected the international art centers to focus on his primary influence, Paul Cézanne, and the symbiosis of art and nature. Biederman immersed himself in the landscape of the American Midwest and developed his theory of Structurism: the abstract translation of nature into pure visual elements of color, plane, and form. Susan C. Larsen is a collector for the Archives of American Art in New England. Patricia McDonnell is chief curator of the Tacoma Art Museum. Distributed for the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum