Robert von Neumann

American (1888-1976)

A prolific painter and printmaker who became one of the leading artists and teachers in twentieth century Wisconsin, Robert von Neumann came to Milwaukee from Germany in 1926. There, he taught art at the Layton School of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and further developed his artistic career.

Neumann, like many artists in the 1930s, adopted a regionalist style, painting Wisconsin’s landscape as well as its inhabitants. His best known works feature the laborers of the land as well as fishermen. Neumann also traveled throughout the United States, sketching along the shores of Lake Michigan as well as journeying to New England, where he painted around Rockport, Massachusetts as well as in Maine.

Neumann was a member of the American Craftsmen’s Council, the Society of American Etchers and the Rockport Art Association, and his works won many awards where exhibited. Neumann’s works are part of the permanent collections of the Des Moines Art Center, Detroit Museum of Art, Newark and New Jersey Museum of Art, among others.