Franz Arthur Bischoff (1864-1929)
Born: Bomen, Austria 1864 Died: Pasadena, California 1929

Franz Bischoff received his earliest art training at a local craft school in Bomen. In 1882 he studied watercolor painting, design and ceramic decoration in Vienna. In 1885 he emigrated to the United States where he found work as a china decorator in New York. Bischoff moved to Dearborn, Michigan in 1892 where he opened his own ceramic studio producing beautiful ceramics and teaching classes in china painting. He was recognized as one of the foremost ceramic artists of the day, creating and manufacturing many of his own colors. At this time he founded the Bischoff School of Ceramic Art in Detroit and later New York City.

Bischoff first visited California in 1900. He moved his family to San Francisco in 1906, then on to Los Angeles. He began painting on canvas while continuing to produce work as a ceramic decorator. In 1908 he opened his studio in South Pasadena overlooking the Arroyo Seco. He continued to teach ceramic decoration at the studio as well as San Francisco and Seattle. In 1912 he traveled to Europe where he studied the works of the Old Masters and also saw the works of the Impressionists.

Bischoff painted the California landscape from the coastal areas of Monterey and Laguna Beach to the Sierras and the deserts near Palm Springs. He also painted harbor scenes around San Pedro and farm life in rural Cambria. In 1928 he traveled to Zion National Park in Utah where he painted the cliffs. Flowers, however, roses, peonies and mums remained a special subject to him.

Bischoff exhibited with the California Art Club, at Stendahl Galleries, the Biltmore Salon, Kanst Galleries, and with the Laguna Beach Art Association. He also exhibited at the San Francisco Institute of Art and in the 1924-1925 traveling exhibition of the Western Association of Art Museums. He received the Huntington Prize in 1924 at the California Art Club. His ceramic works were included in the 1893 World’s Colombian Exposition in Chicago and the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

BioGraphic Information excerpted from “Early Artists In Laguna Beach, The Impressionists” By Janet Blake Dominik, Exhibit Catalog, September 23 - November 5, 1986 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, Copyright 1986

Pasadena Society of Artists
2002 April 6-June 16
75th Annual Diamond Jubilee Exhibition, Pasadena Historical Museum, Pasadena CA

Pasadena Society of Artists

California Art Club
Along with a handful of other artists, Franz Bischoff was Instrumental in founding the CAC in 1909.

Biographical information excerpted from “Early Artists in Laguna Beach, The Impressionists” By Janet Blake Dominik, Exhibit Catalog, September 23 - November 5, 1986 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, Copyright 1986.

Franz A Bischoff Portrait C 1928 Courtesy of Jean Stern's Distinguished Artist Series where more biographic information can be found about the artist.

“Roses” from Morton H. Fleischer, FFCA Collection, Phoenix, Arizona
“Mist-Veiled Days, Monterey Coast” from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Owen Perron
“Afternoon Idyll, Cambria” from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Bagley, Princeton, New Jersey
"Mums" Courtesy of the Redfern Gallery
"In the Shade of the Arroyo" Courtesy of the Redfern Gallery
"Arroyo Pasadena " Courtesy of the Redfern Gallery
"Cypress Point" Courtesy of Jean Stern's Distinguished Artist Series
"The Arroyo Seco" Courtesy of William A Karges Fine Art
"Bush Gardens, Pasadena" Courtesy of William A Karges Fine Art
"Southern California Mountains" Courtesy of William A Karges Fine Art
"Vase" Courtesy of the William A Karges Fine Art