San Juan Capistrano Mission Yard
Oil on Canvas

Franz A. Bischoff

Born January 14, 1864, in Bomen, Austria
Died February 4, 1929, in Pasadena, Calif.

Franz A. Bischoff

Franz Bischoff began his artistic training at a craft school in Bomen. A precocious student, he went to Vienna, in 1882, for further training in painting, design, and ceramic decoration. In 1885, he came to the United States and obtained employment as a painter in a ceramic factory in New York City. He moved to Pittsburgh, then to Fostoria, Ohio, and finally to Dearborn, Michigan, continuing to work as a porcelain painter.

Bischoff became one of the foremost porcelain painters of his day. He founded the Bischoff School of Ceramic Art in Detroit and in New York City. Additionally, he formulated and manufactured many of his own colors, participated in exhibitions and won awards, earning a reputation as "King of the Rose Painters."

He first visited California in 1900 and, finding the climate and scenery appealing, made plans to move his family to San Francisco. However, the earthquake of April, 1906 persuaded him to reconsider his plans and instead moved his family to the Los Angeles area. In 1908 he built a studio-home along the Arroyo Seco in South Pasadena, which included a gallery, ceramic workshop, and painting studio. In 1912 he took an extended tour of Europe where he studied the works of the Old Masters and the Impressionists.

Once in California, Bischoff turned to landscape painting in addition to continuing his flower paintings and his porcelain work. Through the 1920s, he painted the coastal areas of Monterey and Laguna Beach, the Sierra Nevada Mountains, and the desert near Palm Springs. Some of his most charming works were painted in the small central California village of Cambria. In 1928, he and his friend, John Christopher Smith, traveled to Utah where they painted in Zion National Park.

Bischoff exhibited with the California Art Club and the Laguna Beach Art Association. In 1924 he received the Huntington Prize, an annual award given for the most popular painting at the California Art Club exhibition. His porcelain works were exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago and at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis.

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