Bisttram, Emil, 1895-1976
Muralist, Painter
Size: 2.4 Linear feet
Summary: The papers of Emil J. Bisttram measure 2.4 linear feet and date from 1902-1983. The papers document Bisttram's life and career through biographical material, business and personal correspondence, writings, professional files, printed material, photographic materials and original artwork.
Emil J. Bisttram (1895-1976) was a Hungarian American painter and educator living in Taos, New Mexico and New York. Born in Hungary in 1895, Bisttram immigrated to New York City with his family when he was eleven years old. He remained in the city into adulthood studying art at the National Academy of Art and Design, then Cooper Union, Parsons, and The Art Students League developing an early career in commercial art. In 1930 Bisttram visited Taos, N.M. for the first time and fell in love with the area leading him to relocate there after completing a Guggenheim fellowship whereby he studied mural painting with Diego Rivera. Numerous mural commissions would follow throughout his career, including murals for the Department of Justice in Washington D.C., The Taos County Courthouse, New Mexico, and the Federal Courthouse in Roswell, New Mexico. Once settled in Taos, Bisttram became a major figurehead in the Taos art colony and was involved with the local Treasury Relief Art Project, a Works Progress Administration initiative. Additionally, while living in Taos, he opened the Taos School of Art (renamed the Bisttram School of Art in 1943) and co-founded the Transcendental Painting Group in 1938. The school drew students from around the country until its closure in 1965.
The records were donated by Mayrion Bisttram, Emil Bisttram's wife, in three accessions in 1963, 1978 and 1983. Papers microfilmed on reel 581 were lent for microfilming in 1973, and some were subsequently donated with the 1983 gift (and refilmed on reels 2892-2894).
English .
The processing of this collection received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.
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