Born on the border of Latvia and Lithuania, Bloom immigrated with his family to Boston in 1920, settling in the West End’s Jewish community. In 1942 MoMA recognized Bloom as one of the country’s most important emerging artists, which allowed him to enjoy early patronage and notice; however, a variety of factors—the rise of abstraction, regional bias, anti-Semitism, and his sometimes-difficult subject matter—combined to obscure his impressive achievements. This superb example of Bloom’s landscape painting shows how the artist explored the boundaries between figuration and abstraction.

Oil on canvas.

Gift of Stella Bloom.

2024.2546