Norman Bluhm by Miles McEnery Gallery

NORMAN BLUHM IN CONTEXT: 1967–1972

By Alex Grimley

“I haven’t had a show in New York now in over ten years,” Norman Bluhm told the art historian Paul Cummings, who was interviewing the artist for an oral history project in October 1969.1 Though Bluhm’s fortunes would soon change—the first of his four shows with the Martha Jackson Gallery opened the following spring—the development of Bluhm’s art over the course of the decade had been virtually invisible to the New York scene.

Fig. 1

Norman Bluhm, Excalibur, 1960, Oil on canvas, 72 x 63 inches (183 x 160 cm)

“I was isolated,” he explained later.2 In fact, this condition suited his temperament. Fiercely independent, Bluhm was immune to the shifting fashions of the art world and spent the concluding years of the 1960s freely synthesizing his diverse sources of inspiration: Matisse’s 1909 Dance (1), rococo color, medieval tapestries, and his own drawings of the nude. “I think I’m a better artist when I can create in my own space,” he commented.3 Though Bluhm was thinking of the freedom from art world concerns afforded him by his expansive Millbrook, New York, studio, his comment could just as well refer to the unique space he had carved out for himself in the aftermath of abstract expressionism, or, more immediately, to the open and many layered space new to his painting in the late 1960s.

The current exhibition, focusing on the years 1967 to 1972, is the second presentation of Norman Bluhm’s art by the Miles McEnery Gallery, following the gallery’s 2022 exhibition of the artist’s paintings of the 1970s. The luscious, boldly colored paintings of that decade represent the culmination of a path Bluhm began charting in the works included in the current exhibition, as he advanced out of abstract expressionism. In contrast to his earlier paintings, where architectonic and angular gestures crashed into one another, with spatters of paint flying like sparks and filling the canvas, the paintings on display here show the introduction of forms swooping through space, shapes brimming with color, and a complex new palette. These are not transitional works, however; they’re neither tentative nor unresolved. Bluhm executed them with the same confidence and conviction that had distinguished his art theretofore, and today they remain among the most vital works of his entire oeuvre.

Despite the perpetual change that characterized Bluhm’s art from the late 1960s onward, the same reductive categorization continued to follow him. “I’m known as a goddam second-generation abstract expressionist,” he told Newsweek in 1969.4 Critical reviewers employed the term to dismiss the work of Bluhm and his colleagues, while commentators sympathetic to his art felt compelled to reckon with the designation. “A Dead Style?” asked the headline of a positive 1970 review by the art critic Peter Schjeldahl, who noted the scorn that accompanied the “second generation” label.5 “The phrase implies [Bluhm] lacks originality and personality,” ARTnews editor and curator Thomas Hess lamented.6 In his introductory essay to the catalog for Bluhm’s 1969 exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, art historian William C. Agee, while underlining the artist’s commitment to the pathos of abstract expressionism, noted that “Bluhm has survived and outdistanced many members of the second generation.”7 Agee then went further, claiming that “his recent work does correspond…to the general shift of sixties art.”8

It is those correspondences between Bluhm’s work of this period and the broader context of late ’60s and early ’70s abstraction that feel most vital at this moment, more than half a century after these works were created. Three such qualities stand out: Bluhm’s sensuous color palette, his pictorial

engagement with the physical boundaries of the painting, and the loose seriality that obtains among the works.

Throughout the late 1950s and ’60s, Bluhm’s paintings, like those of his peers and colleagues Sam Francis, Michael Goldberg, and Joan Mitchell, utilized the primary colors red, yellow, and blue most prominently, with black and white often used as compositional scaffolding (fig.1). Around 1967, in paintings like Ducas and Argyrus (pl. tk.), Bluhm introduced an array of pinks, periwinkles, lilacs, and light purples into his work—a palette of colors, one visitor to his studio remarked, “[that] looked like tutti-frutti ice cream.”9

Though it may today be difficult to conceive of a “controversial” color palette, reviewers characterized these new soft tones in less than favorable terms, finding the colors more appropriate for cosmetic counters and confectionaries than for the creation of high art.10 But Bluhm wasn’t alone in his use of such colors. In his contemporaneous spray paintings, the color-field artist Jules Olitski foregrounded a similar range of high-keyed hues (fig. 2), which were met with comparable criticism, and Frank Stella, in his late ’60s Protractor paintings (fig. 3), used a spectrum of commercial colors, including pale blues and pastel pinks. While Olitski emphasized the colors’ sheer sensuousness and Stella employed them to decorative effect, Bluhm used them muscularly—against type, as it were—relying on them to carry the energy and vitality of his broad, sweeping gestures.

Fig. 2 Jules Olitski, Twice Disarmed, 1968, Acrylic on canvas, 92 x 212 inches (305 x 457 cm)

Fig. 3 Frank Stella, Darabjerd I, 1967, Fluorescent acrylic on shaped canvas, 120 x 180 inches (208 x 188 cm)

Just as Bluhm introduced a palette of peaches, pinks, and purples, the role of color in his paintings became more pronounced, both as a vehicle for drama and eroticism and as a means of structuring pictorial space around color contrasts that were alternately subtle and striking. In Aphrodite (1969, pl. tk.), for example, two curling ropes of fleshy pink, one entering from the top center, the other from the bottom right, swing toward the center of the canvas. The upper, more thickly painted band overlaps the lower one. The mild contrast between the two pinks has an outsized impact—felt as differences in mass and pressure, with the two seeming to occupy different spatial planes and axes. A similar contrast, between a dense mauve band and a lighter, flatter field of pink is found in Chryseis (1971, pl. tk.). There, the mauve ribbon loops forward toward the viewer before swirling back deeper into the picture while the flat pink plane swells laterally across the surface.

Throughout the 1960s, the physical boundaries of the canvas became a preoccupation for painters working in diverse styles. Jasper Johns used imagery, like the American flag, that was coterminous with the canvas edge, while Andy Warhol, in paintings like 100 Cans, repeated a single image until it filled the entirety of the surface. The abstract painters Kenneth Noland and Frank Stella used stripes and bands of color that closely followed or reiterated the shape of the canvas. Stella described how edges became an issue in post-abstract expressionist painting: “[T]he Action Painters … all seemed to get in trouble in the corners. They started out with a big, expansive gesture, and then they ended up fiddling around or trying to make that one explosive gesture [fill] the canvas in some way.”11 In many of his paintings from this period, Bluhm’s gestures push against the edges of the canvas, simultaneously exerting pressure, defying containment, and suggesting expansion into the real space outside the painting. Take, for example, the pink band whipping in from the top of Opis (1970) which careens off the left edge before looping back across the surface. Bluhm uses a different approach in Philomela (1972), where several interwoven, sinuous forms wrap around the edges of the painting, framing a cavernous internal space—a matte black plane, alit with sparkling flecks of paint—whose distance is amplified by the contrasting glossy sheen of the forms that surround it.

Fig. 4 Norman Bluhm, Zoe, 1968, Oil on canvas, 84 x 80 inches

5 Norman Bluhm, Niobe, 1970, Oil on canvas, 82 x 74 inches

In his 1968 Artforum article “Serial Imagery,” John Coplans described the wide variety of serial techniques used by artists from Monet and Mondrian to the minimalists. “Seriality is identified by a particular interrelationship … of structure and syntax,” he wrote. “Serial imagery, though systematic, does permit unknown variables.”12 Seriality and serial imagery were put to use in the 1960s by minimalists like Donald Judd and Robert Morris, for whom repetition and variation became a means of exploring perceptual subtleties. Sol LeWitt, a conceptual artist, employed easily understood serial processes to shift the viewer’s focus from the physical work of art to the ideas underlying it. Common to these artists was the rigor and severity of their approach.

By contrast, Bluhm in this period utilized a vocabulary of forms that appears and continues to reappear well into the early ’70s. The looping gesture that enters from the top of the canvas, as described above in Aphrodite and Opis is but one example. The loosely serial reiteration of signature shapes, forms, and gestures impart a family resemblance among these paintings. By describing Bluhm’s approach in these works as “serial,” I do not mean to minimize the uniqueness of individual works, but rather, in the spirit of Coplans’s article, to illustrate how Bluhm’s paintings expand our understanding of serial-type approaches in the 1960s. Throughout his oeuvre late in the decade, one finds pairs of

Fig.

“sister paintings,” in which a composition is loosely reiterated at a comparable scale but with a different palette. For example, Ducas (1967, pl. tk.) is closely related to Zoe (1968, fig. 4), with both paintings sharing an upper loop that overlays a central plane of color (dark blue in Ducas, light blue in Zoe) outlined and bifurcated by a gestural band that stops short of the bottom edge. Opis finds a partner in the softly colored Niobe (1970, fig. 5). Here again, a loop swings in from the top, encircling the upper portion of a large, irregularly oval plane, which is cradled at the bottom by a contrasting color. While Opis features a bold clash of hot pink and black, Niobe’s harmonious palette is organized around the pairing of two shades of pale light blue.

Twenty years after the period covered in this exhibition, Bluhm sat for an interview with the artist William Salzillo, who told the artist that “during … the late ’60s and ’70s, your work showed the greatest personal struggle.”13 Bluhm agreed. He’d developed an abstract expressionist idiom entirely his own in the 1950s, and explored its possibilities throughout subsequent years. But his restlessness and independent temperament made it impossible for him to remain stationary. From the sovereignty of his expansive Millbrook studio, Bluhm pushed forward upon an idiosyncratic path, in works responsive to the context of contemporary abstraction but bearing his unmistakable imprint. Bluhm’s struggle is our reward, as these paintings remain today as vital and vigorous as when they first appeared.

Fig. 6 Millbrook House, Spring, 1973

Alex Grimley is an art historian based in Philadelphia.

NOTES

1Oral history interview with Norman Bluhm, October 23–November 12, 1969. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, p. 29. In fact, it had been about seven years since his solo show at New York’s David Anderson Gallery in 1962. But we shouldn’t fault Bluhm’s memory: The years between 1962 and 1969, which saw the emergence of pop art, minimalism, conceptual art, and color-field painting, were among the most momentous in the history of modern art.

2Bluhm, quoted in William Salzillo, “Conversation with the Artist,” in Norman Bluhm: Works on Paper 1947–1987 (Clinton, NY: Hamilton College, 1987), 11.

3Ibid.

4Bluhm, quoted in “Rice and Hamburger,” Newsweek, April 28, 1969, 91.

5Peter Schjeldahl, “A Dead Style? Bluhm Seems Not To Have Heard,” New York Times, May 3, 1970.

6Thomas B. Hess, “Introduction,” Norman Bluhm at the Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY: Everson Museum of Art, 1973), 6.

7William C. Agee, “Introduction,” Paintings by Norman Bluhm (Washington, D.C., The Corcoran Gallery of Art, 1969), unpaginated.

8Ibid.

9Bluhm, quoted in Group Portrait: Four Artists of New York State, ¾” video, 1974, dir. Russell Connor.

10[H]arsh, clashing, even horrid pinks and yellows,” Carter Ratcliff observed. “Bluhm’s colors are noteworthy for their blithe awfulness.” “New York Letter,” Art International 14, no. 7 (September 1970), 90; and Ratcliff, “New York Letter,” Art International 16, no. 6/7 (Summer 1972), 74.

11Frank Stella, quoted in Emile de Antonio and Mitch Tuchman eds., Painters Painting: A Candid History of the Modern Art Scene, 1940–1970 (New York: Abbeville Press, 1984), 137.

12John Coplans, “Serial Imagery,” Artforum 7, no. 2 (October 1968), 34–35, 39.

13Salzillo, “Conversation with the Artist,” 10.

96 x 80 inches

244 x 203 cm

Argyrus, 1967

Oil on canvas

Bulgaroctonus, 1967

Oil on canvas

90 x 80 inches

229 x 203 cm

80 inches

241 x 203 cm

Ducas, 1967

Oil on canvas

90 x 86 inches

229 x 218 cm

Aphrodite, 1969

Oil on canvas

86 x 76 inches

218 x 193 cm

Thisbe, 1969

Oil on canvas

85 x 76 inches

216 x 193 cm

Opis, 1970

Oil on canvas

Chryseis, 1971

82 x 74 inches

208 x 188 cm

Oil on canvas

Priam, 1971

Oil on canvas

48 x 111 inches

122 x 282 cm

Tages, 1971

48 x 108 inches

122 x 274 cm

Oil on canvas

96 x 108 inches

244 x 274 cm

Philomela, 1972

Oil on canvas

CHRONOLOGY

1921

Born March 28 in Chicago, IL to Henry Bluhm and Rosa Goldstein.

1925 - 1929

Lives in Florence, Italy with his mother and his younger brother, William, while his father works on an engineering project in the Soviet Union.

1930 - 1935

The Bluhm family returns to Chicago, IL.

1936 - 1941

Studies architecture at Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL. Mies van der Rohe becomes head of the department in 1938 and Bluhm attends his first classes.

1941

In late December, enlists in U.S. Army Air Corps, along with his brother William, who later passes in action.

1944

Discharged from the U.S. Army Air Corps.

1945

Returns briefly to architectural studies at Armour, then decides to leave the field.

1946 - 47

Moves to Florence, and studies fresco painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze.

1947 - 56

Lives in Paris. Studies at École des Beaux-Arts and Académie de la Grande Chaumiére.

1950

Marries Claude Souvrain, an artist with deep ties to the Parisian art world.

1953

Included in Peintres américains en France at Galerie Craven, Paris.

1956

Divorces Claude Souvrain, and moves to New York, NY.

1957

Rents a studio at 333 Park Avenue South, and exhibits first solo show at Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY.

1958

Rents a summer house in Springs, on the East End of Long Island, with Michael Goldberg across from Green River Cemetery.

1959

Included in the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA; Whitney Museum Annual, New York, NY; and Documenta II, Kassel, Germany. He is also included in exhibitions at galleries in Los Angeles, CA and Milan, Italy, and in a group show at Leo Castelli.

1960

Meets Cary Ogle, who was working at Staempfli Gallery on East 77th Street, and spends summer in Paris, France and uses Joan Mitchell’s studio on rue Frémicourt. He is included in numerous surveys of contemporary art at American museums, most notably Sixty American Painters at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN. He exhibits his second solo show at Leo Castelli, New York, NY.

1961

Marries Cary Ogle at Shirley Kaplan’s mother’s house in Norwalk, CT, in May, followed by an extended honeymoon in Italy. Guests include Frank O’Hara, Mike Goldberg, Patsy Southgate, and Joe LeSueur. He is included in American Abstract Expressionists and Imagists at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY. He shows with Elaine de Kooning in a two-person exhibition at Graham Gallery, New York, NY organized by Joan Washburn.

1962

His son David is born. He exhibits a solo show of paintings at David Anderson Gallery, New York, NY.

1963

His daughter Nina is born.

1964

Moves to Paris with his family and paints in a studio owned by Galerie Stadler on rue Nationale.

1965

The Bluhm family returns to New York, NY.

1968

His first solo show at Galerie Stadler, Paris, France opens during the 1968 student protests.

1969

First monographic museum show at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, of paintings from the 1960s, organized by James Harithas. He leaves New York with his family for Connecticut, but maintains a studio in New York, NY.

1970

He begins showing at Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (David Anderson, director), and has solo shows there in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1974. The Bluhm family moves to a former winery in Millbrook, NY, and Bluhm sets up a large painting studio in the hayloft and drawing studio in the old worker’s quarters.

1972

He is included in the Whitney Annual Exhibition of American Painting.

1973

He exhibits a solo show of recent paintings at Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, organized by James Harithas. He shows a solo exhibition at the Palazzo delle Prigionie, Venice, Italy, arranged by gallerist Rinaldo Rotta.

1976

He has a solo exhibiton at the Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX, organized by James Harithas.

1977

He has a solo exhibition of recent paintings at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, organized by Jane Livingston.

1981

He moves to East Hampton, NY where he and Cary build a new house.

1984

Solo exhibition Norman Bluhm: Seven from the Seventies at Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook, NY organized by Rhonda Cooper and Terence Netter. He is included in

the exhibition Action/Precision: The New Direction at the Newport Harbour Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA, organized by Paul Schimmel, and the exhibition travels to five other venues.

1986

Joins Washburn Gallery, New York, NY, and exhibits solo shows there in 1986, 1989, 1990, and 1991.

1987

He shows a solo exhibition, Norman Bluhm: Works on Paper, 1947-1987, at Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY, organized by William Salzillo, and the exhibition travels to six other venues.

1988

Moves to East Wallingford, VT where Norman and Cary renovate a nineteenth-century farmhouse and build a large new studio.

1992

He begins showing at Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy, and has solo shows there in 1992, 1995, and 1998.

1994

Exhibits solo shows at Ace Gallery, New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA.

1999

On February 3rd, the artist passes at his home in East Wallingford, VT. The Butler Institute, Youngstown, OH exhibits Norman Bluhm: A Tribute Exhibition, organized by Lou Zona and Jim Harithas.

NORMAN BLUHM

Born in Chicago, IL in 1921

Died in East Wallingford, VT in 1999

EDUCATION

1947

École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France

1946

Accademia de Belle Arte, Florence, Italy

1945

Studies Architecture at Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL

1941 – 1945

United States Army Air Forces

1936 – 1941

Studied Architecture with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at Armour Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2025

Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY

2022

Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY

2020

“Norman Bluhm: Space, Time Continuum,” Hollis Taggart, New York, NY

“Norman Bluhm: Metamorphosis,” The Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ

2019

“Norman Bluhm: The 70s,” Hollis Taggart, New York, NY

2015

“Norman Bluhm: Divine Proportion,” Christie’s Private Sales, New York, NY

2012

“Norman Bluhm’s Architecture of Desire,” 499 Park Avenue and Hines, New York, NY

2011

“Norman Bluhm: Paintings 1967-1974,” McClain Gallery, Houston, TX

“Norman Bluhm: Paintings 1967-1974,” Loretta Howard Gallery, New York, NY

2010

“Norman Bluhm: A Retrospective of Works on Paper 1948-1998,” McClain Gallery, Houston, TX

“Norman Bluhm: A Retrospective of Works on Paper 1948-1998,” Galleria Il Gabbiano, Rome, Italy

2009

“Norman Bluhm: Gestural Structures 1960-1965,” Kunsthandel Wolfgang Werner, Berlin, Germany

“Norman Bluhm: A Retrospective of Works on Paper 1948-1998,” Jacobson Howard Gallery, New York, NY

2008

“Norman Bluhm: Large-Scale Works on Paper,” James Graham & Sons, New York, NY

2007

“The Late Paintings of Norman Bluhm,” Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, TX

“Norman Bluhm: Selected Works from 1976-1989,” Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2005

“Norman Bluhm, Works on Paper from the 70s, 80s, and 90s,” James Graham & Sons, New York, NY

“Norman Bluhm, Three Paintings,” JG | Contemporary, New York, NY

2002

“Norman Bluhm, Drawings,” Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA

2002 continued

“Ideal Abstraction, 1955-1965, Norman Bluhm and Karl Benjamin,” Gary Snyder Fine Arts, New York, NY

2000

“Opere su carta 1948-1999,” Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan, Italy

1999

“Norman Bluhm, A Tribute Exhibition,” The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

1998

“Works from the 1950’s and 1960’s,” Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy

1996

“Opere 1993-1995,” Studio d’arte Zanolettii, Milan, Italy

“12 Works on Paper,” Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY

1995

“Opere 1993-1995,” Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy Galleria Blu, Milan, Italy

1994

Ace Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, CA

Ace Contemporary Exhibitions, New York, NY

1992

“Works on paper, 1967-1991,” Galleria Peccolo, Livorno, Italy

The Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY

1991

“Works from the 1960’s,” Washburn Gallery, New York, NY

Hiram Butler Gallery (with James Surls and Robert Creeley), Houston, TX

1990

“Works from the 1950’s,” Washburn Gallery, New York, NY

“Selected Works, 1954-1960,” Manny Silverman Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1989

Riva Yares Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ

Washburn Gallery, New York, NY

1988

Galerie Stadler, Paris, France

1987

“Norman Bluhm, Works on Paper, 1947-1987,” Fred L. Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY; traveled to the Ball State University Art Gallery, Muncie, IN;

Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, Allentown, PA; The Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK; McNay Museum, San Antonio, TX; University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ;

Buscaglia-Castellani Art Gallery of Niagara University, Niagara University, NY

“Poem Prints, Norman Bluhm and John Yau,” Cone Editions, New York, NY

1986

Washburn Gallery, New York, NY

Zolla-Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL

1985

Herbert Palmer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

1984

The Fine Arts Center Gallery, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY

1982

Galerie Stadler, Paris, France

1977

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

1976

Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, TX Robinson Gallery, Houston, TX

SELECT COLLECTIONS

Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC

Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA

Albright-Knox Gallery, Buffalo, NY

Allentown Art Museum of the Lehigh Valley, Allentown, PA

Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, AK

Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada

Ball State University Museum of Art, Muncie, IN

Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL

Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME

Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH

Castellani Art Museum, Niagara University, NY

Centre Nationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA

Connecticut College, New London, CT

Cooley Art Gallery, Reed College, Portland, OR

Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TX

Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, OH

Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO

Dillard University Fine Arts Gallery, New Orleans, LA

Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA

Grey Art Gallery, New York University Art Collection, New York, NY

Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY

High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.

Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX

The Jewish Museum, New York, NY

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

Sidney Mishkin Gallery, Baruch College, NY

MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, San Diego, CA

Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia

National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, Wales

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO

Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State

University of New York, Purchase, NY

Newark Museum, Newark, NJ

The Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ

Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ

Rocky Mountain College, Billings, MT

Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton, MA

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.

University Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA

University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

University of Iowa Museum of Art, Iowa City, IA

University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, KY

Utah Museum of Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT

The Weatherspoon Art Museum at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC

Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA

Published on the occasion of the exhibition

NORMAN BLUHM

30 January – 15 March 2025

Miles McEnery Gallery 511 West 22nd Street New York NY 10011

tel +1 212 445 0051 www.milesmcenery.com

Photo Credits

Artwork Images

Courtesy of the Estate of Norman Bluhm and Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY

Associate Director

Julia Schlank, New York, NY

Photography by Dan Bradica, New York, NY

Catalogue layout by Allison Leung

ISBN: 979-8-3507-4439-2

Cover: Philomela,(detail), 1972