Romanticism
judithbledsoe.com

Judith Bledsoe was an American painter and printmaker best known for her fanciful and romantic depictions of French chateaus, unicorns, and figures dressed in period costumes. Bledsoe’s works share an aesthetic with both Marc Chagall and Henri Rousseau in its use of dream-like imagery and depiction of the natural world in saturated hues. Born in 1938 in California, Bledsoe moved to Europe alone at the age of 16, working for the BBC in London before moving to Paris to work at the Printemps Couture fashion house. Bledsoe made her home and studio in Paris, France for the remainder of her life, where she died in 2013.

"My involvement in art has come as naturally as breathing--I could not have done anything else. It is all a matter of seduction, as most things in life are. Inspiration grows out of doing the actual work itself, from working steadily and keeping your sensitivity alive to everything. Art for me is magic, although it’s also magic when someone falls in love with a work of art, sees it and has to have it live with them in their home. That’s what art is--a torrid love story. You have to create it with your heart full of flowers." Judith Bledsoe

Judith Bledsoe embodies the romantic artist’s life most people experience only in dreams. The high-spirited daughter of a classical violinist, she grew up in California brimming with ideas. From her earliest days, Bledsoe was a seeker, yearning to live intensely in a suitable environment for a burgeoning creative soul. "I had no choice but to become an artist. I always drew and painted, and also wrote as a child. I made mythological things, stories, some atavistic things and strange faces."

Like many gifted and restless spirits, Bledsoe knew her artistic ambitions were outgrowing the town, and even the country of her youth. She needed history, splendor, pageantry. The alluring pull of the Continent proved too strong to resist. The artist fled to Europe at 16, craving experience and artistic freedom. While lesser spirits may have been daunted by such a bold leap, Bledsoe was enthralled with the beauty of the art all around her. In Paris, she was able to absorb, adapt, and ultimately create her own joyous vision of life.

She also began her lifelong love affair with printmaking. For several years she worked with the Imprimerie Nationale de France, the official print shop of France, and was later given the honor of creating "The Spirit of the Print Shop," the official lithograph of this organization. Bledsoe herself describes printmaking as " a fatal malady…quite incurable. (It is) a fascination and a joy, which I find more and more exciting…I love the hand press and the big flat machine and the atmosphere of the print shop."

In an age when all is calculation and deliberate effect, Judith Bledsoe is, and has always been, inextricably linked with her art. She did not have to create a form of art; she has always lived it. Her world, the people in the Parisian streets, the cats frolicking outside her house, the stories she created as a child--all of these are interpreted and effortlessly transformed into paintings, prints, sculptures, and collages.

Indeed, she has often felt overwhelmed after walking around the city on a particularly beautiful day, when the richness and multiplicity of subjects for painting seemed unending. For Judith Bledsoe, everything around her has a story to tell. This depth of feeling and sensitivity permeates all of Bledsoe’s work, whether the subject is the joys of human friendship or the persistent bonds of memory. Suffused with the glow of everyday happiness, works by the artist transcend our traditional notions of daily living--they offer hope, spontaneity and limitless potential. Judith Bledsoe’s works are to be lived with, reflected upon, and cherished. ...

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