In this FSA Inspirations feature, we acknowledge the great American artist, Hyman Bloom (1913–2009) whose paintings “of astounding beauty and probing mysticism” was recently a part of a major dedicated symposium and exhibition at The Museum of Fine Arts Boston (July 13, 2019 through February 23, 2020). As the exhibition catalogue relates “Bloom’s complex works draw upon the artist’s Jewish faith, his interest in Eastern religions, and his transcendent belief in regeneration. His paintings from the 1940s and 1950s of the human body after death, of autopsies, skeletal trees, and archeological excavations, got beneath the surface of things, exploring form and seeking significance. Committed to figurative painting at a defining moment of American art when abstraction was on the rise, Bloom employed thick paint in jewel-like tones to make gripping and beautiful works that challenge our concepts of beauty and our understanding of the true meaning of ‘still life.'”

The symposium entitled “Hyman Bloom: Spirituality and Art” held on February 9, 2020 brought together academics, curators, and performers to explore Bloom’s work in the contexts of spirituality, music, and mid 20th-century art.