Works
Biography
Untitled, 1936
Describing himself as the "best unknown artist in America" (Time 26 Jan 1970), Charles Biederman was a constructivist painter and sculptor of structural reliefs, the latter a medium he is credited with inventing. It has been said that he enjoyed a greater reputation in England and Canada than at home.
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and as a teenager went to work as an apprentice in a commercial art studio where he stayed four years. From 1926 to 1929, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and remained in Chicago until 1934 when he moved to New York. In 1936, he traveled to Europe where he met many modernists including Piet Mondrian and Fernand Leger, both whom had a great influence on his art.
In 1937, he returned to New York and then moved to Chicago in 1941, marrying Mary Katherine Moore. In 1944, the couple moved to Red Wing, Minnesota where they remained the rest of their lives. Mary Katherine died in 1975. Soon after his return from Europe, he gave up painting entirely as being obsolete and worked for a brief time as a sculptor before settling on the three-dimensional structurist reliefs that represent his mature work.
In 1973, he stated that his preferred media was painted aluminum, and that he created "three dimensional art that is neither sculpture nor painting". His pieces are in numerous collections with the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum having a major number of his works.
He seldom titled his pieces and usually identified them only by the place where he was when he painted them. Biederman was also a prolific writer, and self-published books on art theory and the relationships between art and nature.
He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and as a teenager went to work as an apprentice in a commercial art studio where he stayed four years. From 1926 to 1929, he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and remained in Chicago until 1934 when he moved to New York. In 1936, he traveled to Europe where he met many modernists including Piet Mondrian and Fernand Leger, both whom had a great influence on his art.
In 1937, he returned to New York and then moved to Chicago in 1941, marrying Mary Katherine Moore. In 1944, the couple moved to Red Wing, Minnesota where they remained the rest of their lives. Mary Katherine died in 1975. Soon after his return from Europe, he gave up painting entirely as being obsolete and worked for a brief time as a sculptor before settling on the three-dimensional structurist reliefs that represent his mature work.
In 1973, he stated that his preferred media was painted aluminum, and that he created "three dimensional art that is neither sculpture nor painting". His pieces are in numerous collections with the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum having a major number of his works.
He seldom titled his pieces and usually identified them only by the place where he was when he painted them. Biederman was also a prolific writer, and self-published books on art theory and the relationships between art and nature.
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