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Early Life
Bloch was born in St. Louis, Missouri on August 2, 1882 to his parents, Theodore Bloch and Emilie Scheider. He left high school at the age of 16 to go to college and focus on art. In 1898, he continued his studies at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts, where he remained until 1900.

In March 1901, Bloch worked at the St. Louis Star illustrating cartoons and comics. He left that job after three years to move to New York. From 1903 to 1904, Bloch worked as a freelance illustrator, moving between New York and St. Louis frequently. He moved back to St. Louis where got his first big break in early 1905. William Marion Reedy, the editor at the Mirror, a St. Louis weekly satirical paper, hired him as a contributor. Previously, the Mirror did not include illustrations in its publication. Bloch’s first illustrations for the magazine were political cartoons, he later expanded his contributions to include satirical portraits. This series, “Kindly Caricatures”, ran for four years, appearing in 160 consecutive issues. He would continue his work for Mirror until 1913. Not long after beginning his job at the Mirror, Bloch re-enrolled part time at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts to study painting under Dawson Dawson-Watson.

In November 1905, Bloch married Hortense Altheimer, the daughter of a successful plantation owner in Arkansas. They had met four years prior in 1901 at a New Year’s Eve party. Two years after their wedding, in 1907, they welcomed their first son, Bernard.

At the end of 1908, William Marion Reedy made Bloch an offer: Reedy wanted Bloch to further his artistic training in Europe, and offered to fund Bloch and his family's relocation, in addition to providing a monthly allowance for their living expenses. Bloch obliged, and ultimately settled in Munich, Germany. Bloch and Reedy's agreement lasted until 1913.

Life in Europe
After arriving in Europe in December 1908, Bloch and his family settled in an apartment with a small attic studio in Munich in the district of Schwabing. Bloch quickly decided he did not want to continue his studies at the Academy. Instead he took evening classes at a private institute, and was otherwise self-taught, studying the master’s paintings in museums. He didn’t want his “creative spirit and intuition [to] be guided by rigid formalism and theory” that he would have received in an academy. Bloch considered his move to Europe “an unquestionable benefit” that he was able to leave America and “work quietly and undisturbed” during his formative years as an artist.

Upon his return from a trip to Paris in 1910, Bloch came across the catalog of the Neue Künstlervereinigung München (NKVM; New Artists’ Union, Munich). The exhibition at the Thannhauser Gallery had already closed in September of 1910. Bloch saw similarities between his own work and that of NKVM and began trying to contact the group. Soon after, Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc came to Bloch’s studio to see his work. Kandinsky said that Bloch was, “bursting with ideas,” which showed “in every canvas, every scrap of paper.” The German Expressionist leaders then invited Bloch to join them in their upcoming exhibition, Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). The First Exhibition by the Editorial Board of the Blue Rider was held from December 18, 1911 to January 1, 1912 at the Thannhauser Gallery. Six paintings by Bloch were included; View of a Factory, Procession of the Cross, The Three Pierrots No. 2, Head [of Christ], Hamlet Composition, and Harlequinade. The second Blue Rider exhibition, Zweite Ausstellung der Redaktion Der Blaue Reiter, Schwarz-Weiß (Blue Rider: Black and White), opened in February 1912 with over 300 pieces of graphic work, eight of which were drawings by Bloch.

Bloch began making a name for himself in the European art world, first showing at Sonderbund westdeutscher Kunstfreunde und Künstler (Sonderbund) in late 1912, then at the Nemzetközi Postimpresszionista Kiállitás (Public National Post-Impressionist Exhibition) and Erster deutscher Herbstsalon (First German Autumn Salon) in 1913. Later that year, he had his first one-man exhibition at the Kunstsalon Max Dietzel in Munich. It was also in 1913, that Bloch began his relationship with Arthur Jerome Eddy, who would go on to have the most substantial collection of Bloch’s work. Bloch was recommended to Eddy by Kandinsky after purchasing one of his pieces from the Armory Show. Eddy purchased twenty-five of Bloch’s paintings in addition to works by other Blue Rider artists. Bloch ended 1913 with the opening of his largest one-man exhibition, a retrospective comprised of 42 paintings at the Der Strum Gallery.

When World War I began in 1914, the Blue Rider Group broke up; Marc was drafted, Kandinsky returned to Russia, while others emigrated to other countries. During this period, Bloch also discovered Die Fackel, a journal edited by Karl Kraus, Bloch would go on to be the first to translate and publish Kraus’ written work. In 1915, Bloch had his first American exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago. The one-man show displayed twenty-five of Bloch’s paintings, mainly from the Eddy collection. After the exhibition closed in Chicago, it traveled to the City Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri.

He continued to show his work in both group and solo exhibitions across Europe until 1921. During this period he was in constant financial strains, often having to resort to borrowing money from family or staying with friends. In 1917, his second son Walter was born. The still present financial difficulties paired with the uneasiness left in Europe due to the war, Bloch moved his family back to the United States.

Return to the United States
Bloch and his family moved back to the United States in May 1921. He began his teaching career in 1922 at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where he stayed only a year. He took a position at the University of Kansas as a professor and Head of the Department of Drawing and Painting. He taught both painting and art history until his retirement in 1947. Aside from his work as a professor, Bloch was also a writer, of both essays and poetry. He also translated German literature and philosophy works by authors such as Karl Kraus. Bloch continued to paint until 1958.

After returning to the United States, Bloch remained in contact with Kandinsky, Klee, and Maria Marc, the widow of Franz Marc, and many other artists. In a letter in Kandinsky in 1936 he wrote, “I am one of the painters who is, so to speak, ‘known,’ but not, thank God, one of the great celebrities of the day…. I want nothing but my peace, and here in this pleasant little university town… I have finally found it.”

Later in his life, Bloch was reserved about his involvement with the Blue Riders and was not present in the art world. His role in the group, as well as the art produced during that period were often under represented. However, in 1934, Bloch gave a series of three lectures at the Denver Art Museum. Kandinsky, Marc, Klee: Criticism and Reminisces, is one of the lectures in which Bloch discusses the Blue Rider artists and the personal relationships he had with them.

In 1951, Albert Bloch married Anna Francis, a past student and longtime friend. Bloch passed away March 23, 1961 in Lawrence, Kansas. After his death, Anna worked to cement Albert’s place in art history. She worked to preserve his work, arrange exhibitions to be curated, and created the Albert Bloch foundation to continue his legacy. She passed away in April 2014.