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A Pictorial Map by Famed Swiss-American Artist Lucienne Bloch
Striking pictorial map of the Pacific Ocean, drawn by famed artist Lucienne Bloch.
Thematically, the work is similar to the maps of Miguel Covarrubia, but far more detailed and imaginative. This would seem to be the only map created by Bloch, who is best known for her collaboration with Diego Rivera.
The history of American President Lines dates back to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, which was later purchased by the Dollar Shipping Company. The American President Lines was created in 1938 when the U.S. government took over the management of the Dollar Steamship Company. Dollar Steamship was founded by Captain Robert Dollar in 1900 and it grew into a large shipping empire, but failed with the Crash of 1929.
Rarity
The map is apparently very rare. This is the first example we have ever seen on the market.
Lucienne Bloch is an American artist, who is best known for her murals and for her association with the Mexican artist Diego Rivera, for whom she produced the only existing photographs of Rivera's mural Man at the Crossroads, painted in 1933 and destroyed in January 1934 at Rockefeller Center in New York City.
Lucienne attended the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris at 14, apprenticing with sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and painter Andre Lhote.
In 1929, she pioneered the design of glass sculpture for the Royal Leerdam Crystal Glass Factory in the Netherlands. When Frank Lloyd Wright saw her glass works and spoke with her in New York, he invited her to teach at his architectural school, Taliesin East, where she worked with artist and muralist Santiago Martínez Delgado and other Taliesin fellows.
In 1931, Bloch had met and began her apprenticeship with Diego Rivera on his frescoes in New York (1931, 1933) and Detroit (1932). She also formed a close friendship with Rivera's wife Frida Kahlo, and they became each other's companion and confidant. In 1932 she accompanied Kahlo to Mexico when Kahlo's mother became ill.
Bloch took the only existing photographs of Rivera's (controversially) destroyed mural, Man at the Crossroads. She created five portfolios of photographs of Rivera and Kahlo, including photos of Kahlo's paintings in progress, and the artists in New York City, Detroit, and Mexico.
From 1935 to 1939, Bloch was employed by the WPA/FAP (Works Progress Administration/Federal Arts Project). As a WPA/FAP artist, she completed murals for public buildings, including the House of Detention for Women in New York City, and the Fort Thomas, Kentucky post office. She also worked free-lance as a photographer for Life magazine. For Life she record the desperate conditions of autoworkers during labor strikes and protests that occurred throughout the U.S. during the formation of automobile worker unions.
She and Dimitroff created nearly 50 murals across the United States for religious institutions, schools, hospitals, and businesses.
![[ Oahu ]](https://storage.googleapis.com/raremaps/img/small/101961.jpg)