Fritz Bultman

1980 - Provincetown, Photo Renate Ponsold.jpeg
 

Biography

Fritz Bultman (1919 - 1985) was an American abstract expressionist painter, sculptor, and collagist and a member of the New York School. 

Fritz Bultman was born to a prominent New Orleans family. By the age of thirteen Bultman showed an interest in art and worked with artist and family friend Morris Graves. As a high school junior in 1935 Bultman went to study in Munich for two years and there boarded with Maria Hofmann, the wife of artist and teacher Hans Hofmann. After returning to the United States Bultman studied with Hofmann in New York City and Provincetown Massachusetts. Despite Bultman's father's wishes that he become an architect, with Hofmann's encouragement Fritz decided instead to continue his study of art. In 1944 he bought a house in Provincetown, and thenceforth his wife Jeanne divided their time between Cape Cod and New York City.

Fritz Bultman's early paintings have been described as "rough and painterly," an amalgam of symbolism and geometry. Bultman exhibited with other abstract expressionists by the late 1940s, and in 1950 aligned himself with the group of New York School artists, nicknamed the "Irascibles" in an article in Life magazine, who signed a letter to the Metropolitan Museum of Art protesting the institution's conservative policies. 

With the assistance of a grant from Italy Bultman studied bronze casting in Florence in 1951; subsequently he was the sole abstract expressionist to fully integrate sculpture into his oeuvre.

Affected by anxiety and depression, Bultman worked little between 1952 and 1956, and resumed painting and sculpting after undergoing Freudian analysis. At a time when African Americans were prohibited from visiting white museums in the south, in 1963 Bultman and his wife led a group of prominent New York artists and writers in the creation of a collection of modern art for Tougaloo College, a black institution in Jackson, Mississippi. Bultman was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship in 1964-1965 to work in Paris. In the 1960s Bultman began to make large collages, using pre-painted paper cut or torn and assembled into shapes reminiscent of his figurative drawings and more abstract sexual symbolism. In 1976 he began making stained glass windows with the aid of his wife. 

Fritz Bultman died of cancer in 1985. 

It has been suggested that Bultman's career and subsequent reputation suffered from the vagaries of chance: Bultman was not available for inclusion in the now iconic photo shoot for Life magazine that helped establish the reputations of the New York School painters. Another possibility, according to Robert Motherwell, was Bultman's lack of interest in "art world politics".

Whatever the reasons of the time, Fritz Bultman must be considered when one considers the development and progression of the modern American art movement.  

 

CV

SELECT SOLO EXHIBITIONS

  • 2018, Fritz Bultman: Form, Space, Surface: Paintings and Collages, Pavel Zoubok Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2018, Fritz Bultman, Octavia Gallery, Houston, TX & New Orleans, LA

  • 2016, Fritz Bultman - The Irascible Remembered, Octavia Gallery, Houston, TX & New Orleans, LA

  • 2015, Fritz Bultman: Cutouts, Edelman Arts, New York, NY

  • 2013, Fritz Bultman – The Missing Iracible, Edelman Arts, New York, NY

  • 2013, Fritz Bultman – An American Abstractionist, Louisiana Arts & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA

  • 2011, Fritz Bultman - Torn Paper Collages, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2010, Fritz Bultman, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2009, Jeanne and Fritz Bultman - A Provincetown Collection and Salon, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

  • 2008, Fritz Bultman - Drawings from the early 1960’s, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2007, Fritz Bultman - Collages from the 1980’s, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2007, Fritz Bultman - Paintings, Drawings, Sculpture and Collage, Reynolds Ryan Art Gallery - Isidore Newman School, New Orleans, LA

  • 2006, Fritz Bultman - Small Paintings 1957 - 1961, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2005, Fritz Bultman - The Rhythm of the Line, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2004, Fritz Bultman: Irascible, II, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman - Rare Paintings from the Early 1960’s, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman: Irascible, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 2003, Fritz Bultman: The Ogden Museum of Southern Art - University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA

  • 2001, Fritz Bultman - Paintings, Collages, Drawings and Sculpture: 1953 - 1985, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 1998, Fritz Bultman: No/Show... An Evolving Exhibition, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 1998, Fritz Bultman: Drawing from Life, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 1997, Fritz Bultman: Collages, Georgia Museum of Art - University of Georgia, Athens, GA

  • 1993, Fritz Bultman: A Retrospective, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA; travelling exhibition

  • 1992, Fritz Bultman, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1991, Fritz Bultman, Kouros Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1989, Fritz Bultman: Retrospective, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT (solo)

  • 1988, Fritz Bultman, Tilden-Foley Gallery, New Orleans, LA (solo)

  • 1987, Fritz Bultman, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME (solo)

  • 1987, Fritz Bultman, Hunter College, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1987, Fritz Bultman, Galerie Schlesinger-Boisanté, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1986, Fritz Bultman, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA (solo)

  • 1986, Fritz Bultman, Cherry Stone Gallery, Wellfleet, MA (solo)

  • 1984, Fritz Bultman, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, MA (solo)

  • 1982, Fritz Bultman, Landmark Gallery, Inc., New York, NY (solo)

  • 1979, Fritz Bultman, Long Point Gallery, Provincetown, MA (solo)

  • 1979, Fritz Bultman, Landmark Gallery, Inc., New York, NY (solo)

  • 1978, Fritz Bultman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC (solo)

  • 1977, Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1974, Fritz Bultman, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (solo)

  • 1974, Fritz Bultman, Oklahoma Art Center, Oklahoma City, OK (solo)

  • 1974, Fritz Bultman, Newport Art Association, Newport, RI (solo)

  • 1973, Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1965, Fritz Bultman, The Arts Club of Chicago, Chicago, IL (solo)

  • 1964, Fritz Bultman, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1963, Fritz Bultman, Weatherspoon Gallery - University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Isaac Delgado Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA (solo)

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Galerie Stadler, Paris, France (solo)

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Gallery Mayer, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1960, Fritz Bultman, Michel Warren Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1959, Fritz Bultman, Martha Jackson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1958, Fritz Bultman, Stable Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1952, Fritz Bultman, Kootz Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1950, Fritz Bultman, Hugo Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

  • 1947, Fritz Bultman, Hugo Gallery, New York, NY (solo)

SELECT GROUP EXHIBITIONS

  • 2015, Robert Motherwell and the New York School at Hunter, Hunter College, New York, NY

  • 2014, Cutout/Decoupage, Nancy Hoffman Gallery 

  • 2013, Ab-Ex Re-Con: Abstract Expressionism Reconsidered, Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY 

  • 2012, Abstraction: What Is Real, Edelman Arts, New York, NY 

  • Fine Arts Work Center Benefit, Cheim & Reid, New York, NY 

  • 2012, Constructing/Deconstructing: ABEX Collage, Hollis Taggart Galleries, New York, NY 

  • 2012, 50 Years of Collecting, Louisiana Art & Science Museum, Baton Rouge, LA 

  • 2011, Abstraction, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 2011, The Tides of Provincetown New Britain Museum, New Britain, CT; travelling exhibition

  • 2008, Abstraction: Summer 2008, Thomas McCormick Gallery, Chicago, IL

  • 2007, Stone Cold Classics, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC

  • 2005, It's About Art: an evolving exhibition, Gallery Schlesinger, New York, NY

  • 2004, Drawing, Albert Merola Gallery, Provincetown, MA

  • 1994, New York-Provincetown: A 50's Connection, Provincetown Art Association and Museum, 

  • 1985, Retrospective exhibition, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

  • 1985, Figural Art, City University of New York, New York, NY

  • 1981, Tracking the Marvelous, New York University, New York, NY

  • 1977, Provincetown Painters: 1890s to 1970s, Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY

  • 1975, 20 American Fulbright Artists, International Institute of Education, New York, NY

  • 1964, 67th Annual American Exhibition - Directions in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture, 

  • 1963 - 1964, Hans Hofmann and His Students, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

  • 1956, New York Painting and Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1955, Annual, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY                  

  • 1954, New York Painting and Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1953, New York Painting and Sculpture Annual Exhibition, Stable Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1952,  Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

  • 1950, Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

  • 1950, Black or White, Samuel Kootz Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1949, Organized and exhibited in "Forum 49" group exhibition, Provincetown, MA

  • 1949, The Arts Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY

  • Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

  • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY

  • Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY

  • Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC

  • Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

  • New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA

  • Louisiana Museum of Art and Science, Baton Rouge, LA

  • Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

  • Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA

  • Nelson Rockefeller Collection, Kykuit Estate, Sleepy Hallow, NY

  • Roger Houston Ogden Collection of Southern Art, New Orleans, LA

  • Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ

  • Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville NC

EDUCATIONAL MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

  • Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Caralona, Greensboro, NC

  • Hunter College of the City, University of New York, NY

  • The University of Connecticut, William Benton Museum of Art, Storrs, CT

  • Michigan State University, The Eli and Edythe Broad Museum (Kresge Art Museum), East Lansing, MI

  • Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, MA

  • Berkley Art Museum, University of California at Berkley, CA

  • Hunter College Art Museum, New York, NY

  • New York University Collection, New York, NY

  • Staten Island University Collection, New York, NY

  • Hastings College, Hastings, NB

  • Tougaloo College, Tougaloo, MS

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

  • Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

  • Miami Dade Community College, Miami FL

  • Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke VA

  • Albert Einstien Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA

  • Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA

  • Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI

  • Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME