Self-portrait, 1972
Peter Blos’s European heritage was formed by his early years of immersion with the Munich Secessionists and with painters Franz von Stuck and Hans Hoffman and later in Paris the Dada-Surrealists proved pivotal, when he studied under the giant muscle of Fernand Leger, Andre L’Hote and in the company of Duchamp, Magritte and Ernst.
Peter Blos was a Renaissance man, not only a draftsman and painter of superlative skill and power but he was a photographer, craftsman, linguist, musician and cook as well. Peter not only spoke his native German but also learned to speak fluent French from his parents and the English language in school. He also learned the difficult language of the Navajos when he came to the Southwest for the first time in 1938. Peter also played the cello and flute, trained by his violinist mother Rosa Kalb. He used the music of all ethnic peoples for mood music to enhance the classes he taught in later years. Peter and May together designed and expertly crafted hand wrought silver and gold pieces of jewelry inspired by the Indians whom they had made close friends with. In part due to Franz von Stucks influence the camera became an important medium for Peter to further document the Navajo and Hopi Indians besides his stunningly sensitive portraits of them in oil paints, chronicling the Hopi and Navajo Indians and the Southwest landscape during the years 1938- until his death in 1986. His work follows Taos painter Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953) and Southwest landscape painter Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), thus making Blos’s work of artistic importance to the history of California and Southwestern art of the 20th century. This catalogue raisonne is the first definitive writing concerning this artist. I have not found any books that would be in direct competition, with the exception of minor catalogues and newspaper articles Peter Blos’s work has never been published. Blos demonstrates a facility and power far surpassing the myriad of already published artists. The understated but fine quality of the book will appeal not only to major and minor art museums but also to the educated and professional eye of discerning artists who until now may or may not have heard of Peter Blos. On the other hand, Blos’s long record of teaching, patrons and the renewed interest in our country in the Native American and portraiture, has produced a large base of future buyers of a beautifully crafted art book. His international scope will attract museum and public interest in North America and in Western Europe where his own father, Carl Blos was a well known and sought after professional painter during his lifetime spent in Munich, Germany.
DeAnza Mural
Peter Blos, demontration, 20 x 24 inches, oil on panel, 1962
Remembering Peter Blos
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