Collection Spotlight: Charles Biederman
October 29, 2024 — July 18, 2025
American Modernist Charles Biederman gained recognition for what came to be known by the late 1940s as Structurist art. Biederman started creating reliefs and collages in 1935 and achieved his first critical success in 1936 with a solo exhibition at Pierre Matisse Gallery in New York City. The following year his work was included in the exhibition, Five Contemporary American Concretionists: Biederman, Calder, Ferren, Morris, and Shaw, organized by writer and arts patron Albert E. Galletin (1881–1952). Biederman traveled to Paris in 1936-37. There he met artists associated with Constructivism, the most influential modern art movement in 20th-century Russia, and the Netherlands-based De Stijl movement, whose work focused on geometric forms and the use of primary colors.
After returning to New York, Biederman began working almost exclusively in the format of relief construction, as seen on view in the case. While he never abandoned traditional painting completely, this period marked a shift in his artistic practice to one of innovation and the exploration of new materials, including metals, plastics, and glass. With the creation of #9, New York, July 1940 he became the first-known artist to incorporate fluorescent lights into their artwork.
In 1942 the artist settled in Red Wing, MN with his wife Mary Moore Biederman. Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) hosted Biederman’s breakthrough exhibition in 1965, and his 1976 retrospective at Minneapolis Institute of Art (MN) included 250 of his works. Biederman arranged for a gift to the University of Minnesota of more than one thousand of his works, as well as selections from his personal library, correspondences, and written documents. The largest institutional collection of his work is housed in the Weisman Art Museum on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota.
Biederman continued to produce paintings and sculptural reliefs until his death in 2004. Tweed Museum of Art is pleased to hold seven of his works in its permanent collection.
After returning to New York, Biederman began working almost exclusively in the format of relief construction, as seen on view in the case. While he never abandoned traditional painting completely, this period marked a shift in his artistic practice to one of innovation and the exploration of new materials, including metals, plastics, and glass. With the creation of #9, New York, July 1940 he became the first-known artist to incorporate fluorescent lights into their artwork.
In 1942 the artist settled in Red Wing, MN with his wife Mary Moore Biederman. Walker Art Center (Minneapolis, MN) hosted Biederman’s breakthrough exhibition in 1965, and his 1976 retrospective at Minneapolis Institute of Art (MN) included 250 of his works. Biederman arranged for a gift to the University of Minnesota of more than one thousand of his works, as well as selections from his personal library, correspondences, and written documents. The largest institutional collection of his work is housed in the Weisman Art Museum on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota.
Biederman continued to produce paintings and sculptural reliefs until his death in 2004. Tweed Museum of Art is pleased to hold seven of his works in its permanent collection.
Credits:
Charles Biederman, #8, 5/37, 1937, Model for structurist relief never completed, Oil on wood relief, 13.5 x 10 x 2 in. Collection of Tweed Museum of Art, UMD, Gift of Estate of Douglas E. Hedin, TC2023.2
Charles Biederman, #16, New York, 1938-1939, 1939, Oil on wood relief, 29 x 22.5 x 2.75 in. Collection of Tweed Museum of Art, UMD, Gift of Estate of Douglas E. Hedin, TC2023.1