ROBERT

See also:

• FREDERICK
• FREDERICK (Mod. Ger. Friedrich; Ital. Federigo; Fr. Frederic and Federic; M.H.G. Friderich; O.H.G. Fridurih, " king or lord of peace," from O.H.G. fridu, A.S. frith, " peace," and rfh " rich," " a ruler," for derivation of which see HENRY)

FREDERICK

See also:

• ROBERT FREDERICK BLUM (1857–1903)

BLUM (1857–1903)  , American artist, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on the 9th of July 1857 . He was employed for a time in a lithographic shop, and studied at the McMicken Art School of Design in Cincinnati, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, but he was practically self-taught, and early showed great and original talent . He settled in New York in 1879, and his first published sketches—of Japanese jugglers—appeared in St Nicholas . His most important work is a large frieze in the Mendelssohn Music Hall, New York, " Music and the Dance" (1895) . His pen-andink work for the Century magazine attracted wide attention, as did his illustrations for Sir Edwin Arnold's Japonica . In the country and art of Japan he had been interested for many years . " A Daughter of Japan," drawn by Blum and W . J . Baer, was the cover of Scribner's Magazine for May 1893, and was one of the earliest pieces of colour-printing for an American magazine . In Scribner's for 1893 appeared also his " Artist's Letters from Japan." He was an admirer of Fortuny, whose methods some-what influenced his work . Blum's Venetian pictures, such as " A Bright Day at Venice " (1882), had lively charm and beauty . He died on the 8th of June 1903 in New York City .

He was a member of the

National Academy of Design, being elected after his exhibition in 1892 of " The Ameya "; and was president of the Painters in Pastel . Although an excellent draughtsman and etcher, it was as a colourist that he chiefly excelled .