Eugene Von Bruenchenhein
Encyclopedia
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American outsider art
ist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
.
His versatile body of work included over a thousand colorful apocalyptic landscape paintings; hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones, ceramic and cast cement; pin-up style photos of his wife, Marie; plus dozens of notebooks filled with poetic and scientific musings. Von Bruenchenhein's work is represented in various museum collections, including: American Folk Art Museum
, New York; High Museum of Art
, Atlanta; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; John Michael Kohler Arts Center
, (Sheboygan, WI); Milwaukee Art Museum
; New Orleans Museum of Art
; Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
, Chicago; Newark Museum
; Philadelphia Museum of Art
; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
, Washington, D.C.
Von Bruenchenhein's mother, Clara, died in 1917 when Eugene was seven years old. His father then married Elizabeth "Bessie" Mosely, a schoolteacher who had returned to the U.S. from Panama to become a chiropractor. In 1926 she had authored a pamphlet entitled, "Evolution: The Law of Progress Based on Truth", along with several other treatises on evolution and reincarnation. She painted floral still lifes and the young Eugene regarded her as a mentor until her death in 1938.
In the late 1930s, Bruenchenhein built a greenhouse behind his father's home to house his growing collection of exotic plants and cacti. He became a member of the Milwaukee Cactus Club, worked at a local florist shop and studied books on botany. When asked, he told people he was a horticulturist.
Bruenchenhein was a man of small stature, so much so that he was prevented from serving in the Army during WWII because he did not meet the minimum height requirement.
In 1939 he met Eveline T. "Marie" Kalke at the Wisconsin State Fair
. She was 19, he was 29. They married in 1943 and a year later Eugene took a job at Carpenter Baking Co. in Milwaukee. He worked there until 1959 when health problems and the closing of the bakery led to his premature "retirement" at the age of 49. In the last year of his life, Bruenchenhein and his wife were living entirely off his $220 monthly Social Security checks.
Bruenchenhein owned a Nash Rambler but once admitted to a friend that he only filled the gas tank twice a year.
to give his photographs an added touch of surrealism; the frequently cited example is the portrait where Marie holds her own head in her hand. The photographs evoke pinup girls of the 1950s, such as this one, from the permanent collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago. Marie served as his muse
, becoming the subject, directly or indirectly, of all of his art and writing. A homemade plaque in his kitchen gave him the epithets of "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein—Freelance Artist, Poet and Sculptor, Inovator [sic], Arrow maker and Plant man, Bone artifacts constructor, Photographer and Architect, Philosopher."
.
Outsider Art
The term outsider art was coined by art critic Roger Cardinal in 1972 as an English synonym for art brut , a label created by French artist Jean Dubuffet to describe art created outside the boundaries of official culture; Dubuffet focused particularly on art by insane-asylum inmates.While...
ist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
.
His versatile body of work included over a thousand colorful apocalyptic landscape paintings; hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones, ceramic and cast cement; pin-up style photos of his wife, Marie; plus dozens of notebooks filled with poetic and scientific musings. Von Bruenchenhein's work is represented in various museum collections, including: American Folk Art Museum
American Folk Art Museum
The American Folk Art Museum is a museum devoted to American folk art, as well as the work of international self-taught artists. It has branches at 45 West 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in Midtown Manhattan .In May 2011 the Museum of Modern Art bought its 53rd Street location...
, New York; High Museum of Art
High Museum of Art
The High Museum of Art , located in Atlanta, is the leading art museum in the Southeastern United States and one of the most-visited art museums in the world. Located on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district, the High is a division of the Woodruff Arts Center.-History:The Museum was...
, Atlanta; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; John Michael Kohler Arts Center
John Michael Kohler Arts Center
The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is a not-for-profit art museum located in downtown Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The original house at the facility is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the John Michael Kohler House...
, (Sheboygan, WI); Milwaukee Art Museum
Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum is located on Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.Beginning around 1872, multiple organizations were founded in order to bring an art gallery to Milwaukee, as the city was still a growing port town with little or no facilities to hold major art exhibitions...
; New Orleans Museum of Art
New Orleans Museum of Art
The New Orleans Museum of Art is the oldest fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans. It is situated within City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton Avenue and Esplanade Avenue, and near the terminus of the "Canal Street - City Park" streetcar line...
; Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art
Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the understanding of and appreciation for intuitive and outsider art through a program of education and exhibition. Since its founding in 1991, Intuit has emerged as an international...
, Chicago; Newark Museum
Newark Museum
The Newark Museum is the largest museum in New Jersey, USA. It holds fine collections of American art, decorative arts, contemporary art, and arts of Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the ancient world...
; Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is among the largest art museums in the United States. It is located at the west end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. The Museum was established in 1876 in conjunction with the Centennial Exposition of the same year...
; and the Smithsonian American Art Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
The Smithsonian American Art Museum is a museum in Washington, D.C. with an extensive collection of American art.Part of the Smithsonian Institution, the museum has a broad variety of American art that covers all regions and art movements found in the United States...
, Washington, D.C.
Early life
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein was born July 31, 1910 in Marinette Wisconsin. He was the second of three sons by Edwin and Clara Von Bruenchenhein. Within a few years, the family moved to Green Bay and eventually settled in Milwaukee where Eugene's father worked as a sign painter. In the 1930s, Edwin built a small home on Milwaukee's west side at 514 S. 94th Pl (eventually razed in September 1983) from which he ran a grocery store. It was within easy walking distance of the state fairgrounds.Von Bruenchenhein's mother, Clara, died in 1917 when Eugene was seven years old. His father then married Elizabeth "Bessie" Mosely, a schoolteacher who had returned to the U.S. from Panama to become a chiropractor. In 1926 she had authored a pamphlet entitled, "Evolution: The Law of Progress Based on Truth", along with several other treatises on evolution and reincarnation. She painted floral still lifes and the young Eugene regarded her as a mentor until her death in 1938.
In the late 1930s, Bruenchenhein built a greenhouse behind his father's home to house his growing collection of exotic plants and cacti. He became a member of the Milwaukee Cactus Club, worked at a local florist shop and studied books on botany. When asked, he told people he was a horticulturist.
Bruenchenhein was a man of small stature, so much so that he was prevented from serving in the Army during WWII because he did not meet the minimum height requirement.
In 1939 he met Eveline T. "Marie" Kalke at the Wisconsin State Fair
Wisconsin State Fair
The Wisconsin State Fair is an annual event held at the Wisconsin State Fair Park in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. The modern fair takes place in August and lasts 11 days.-History:...
. She was 19, he was 29. They married in 1943 and a year later Eugene took a job at Carpenter Baking Co. in Milwaukee. He worked there until 1959 when health problems and the closing of the bakery led to his premature "retirement" at the age of 49. In the last year of his life, Bruenchenhein and his wife were living entirely off his $220 monthly Social Security checks.
Bruenchenhein owned a Nash Rambler but once admitted to a friend that he only filled the gas tank twice a year.
Photographer
Von Bruenchenhein is best known for his photographs, including hundreds of portraits of his wife Marie in exotic costumes and settings. He frequently made use of the double exposureDouble Exposure
Double exposure is a photographic technique in which two images are captured and combined into a single image.Double exposure may also refer to:* Double patterning, a technique for improving the resolution of patterning semiconductors...
to give his photographs an added touch of surrealism; the frequently cited example is the portrait where Marie holds her own head in her hand. The photographs evoke pinup girls of the 1950s, such as this one, from the permanent collection of Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art in Chicago. Marie served as his muse
Muse
The Muses in Greek mythology, poetry, and literature, are the goddesses who inspire the creation of literature and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge, related orally for centuries in the ancient culture, that was contained in poetic lyrics and myths...
, becoming the subject, directly or indirectly, of all of his art and writing. A homemade plaque in his kitchen gave him the epithets of "Eugene Von Bruenchenhein—Freelance Artist, Poet and Sculptor, Inovator [sic], Arrow maker and Plant man, Bone artifacts constructor, Photographer and Architect, Philosopher."
Painter
Von Bruenchenhein developed his own unique style of finger painting also incorporating the use of small sticks and home made brushes which he made with his wife Marie's hair. His paintings were made by "pushing" paint around on the smooth surface of primed masonite to create three dimensional effects often depicting swirling masses in a rhythmic, calligraphic style. The paintings often appear to depict other worlds resembling landscapes in outer space, distant planets, sea fauna or other unusual life forms. One of his paintings was used as the cover art for the CD Transmalinnia by the Los Angeles indie music group LumeriansLumerians
Lumerians is a San Francisco Bay Area based five-member band which has a psychedelic "mindbender" space rock sound. The group is notable for performances characterized by "transcendent live video projections" and having "incredible visuals," according to one music critic. One critic described the...
.
Death and legacy
Von Bruenchenhein died on January 24, 1983 at the age of 72 from congestive heart failure. Shortly afterwards, Daniel Nycz, a West Allis policeman who had befriended Von Bruenchenhein years earlier, contacted Russell Bowman, then chief curator of the Milwaukee Art Museum, in the hope that some of Von Bruenchenhein's artistic creations could be sold off in order to provide for Eugene's impoverished widow, Marie. Bowman in turn called Ruth Kohler, director of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and officer of the Kohler Foundation which was known for preserving the work of outsider artists. In September 1983, all of Bruenchenhein's works contained within his home were transported to the John Michael Kohler Arts Center. Subsequently, an extensive effort to document, catalog and preserve Von Bruenchenhein's work was mounted under the direction of Joanne Cubbs.External links
- Official Eugene Von Bruenchenhein webpage
- Biography from a gallery site
- [Information from museum web site https://www.jmkac.org/Artist-EnvironmentBuilders