Emerson Woelffer was a prominent abstract expressionism

Abstract expressionism

Abstract expressionism was an American post–World War II art movement. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve worldwide influence and put New York City at the center of the western art world, a role formerly filled by Paris...

 artist and painter born in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

. He studied Education at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Art Institute of Chicago

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago is one of America's largest accredited independent schools of art and design, located in the Loop in Chicago, Illinois. It is associated with the museum of the same name, and "The Art Institute of Chicago" or "Chicago Art Institute" often refers to either...

 between 1935 and 1937. In 1938 he joined the WPA

Works Progress Administration

The Works Progress Administration was the largest and most ambitious New Deal agency, employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings and roads, and operated large arts, drama, media, and literacy projects...

 Arts Program. In 1949 he taught at Black Mountain College at the request of Buckminster Fuller. Between 1949 and 1959, he lived in Yucatán, Mexico and Forio d'Ischia Naples, Italy. In 1960 he moved to Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles, California

Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

 and from 1969 to 1973 he taught at the California Institute of the Arts

California Institute of the Arts

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...

 in Valencia, California. He taught again between 1974 and 1989 at The Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. One of his students was Kenneth O. Goehring

Kenneth O. Goehring

Kenneth O. Goehring was an abstract expressionist painter, who was born in Evansville, WI and lived most of his life in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He signed his artwork Ken Goehring...

.

In 1970, he was artist-in-residence at the Honolulu Academy of Arts

Honolulu Academy of Arts

The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...

. He received the Pollock-Krasner Grant in 1984 and the Francis Greenberger Award, in conjunction with Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a well-known museum located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States. It is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art and also features special exhibitions...

 of New York City in 1988. In 1991 he received an Honorary Doctorate Degree from Otis College of Art and Design

Otis College of Art and Design

Otis College of Art and Design is an art and design college in Los Angeles, California.The school's programs, accredited by WASC and National Association of Schools of Art and Design, include four-year BFA degrees in illustration, fine arts, graphic design, architecture, landscape design, interior...

 in Los Angeles. He died in Los Angeles in 2003.

Emerson Woelffer is best known for his boldly colored abstract

Abstract art

Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an...

 paintings and collage

Collage

A collage is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole....

s with jagged forms. He also created sculpture and lithographs. Late in his career―suffering from macular degeneration

Macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field because of damage to the retina. It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms. It is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment in older adults...

―he began working in white crayon on black paper. The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center

The Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center is an arts center located just north of downtown Colorado Springs, Colorado. Located on the same city block are the American Numismatic Association and part of the campus of Colorado College....

 (Colorado Springs, Colorado ), the Honolulu Academy of Arts

Honolulu Academy of Arts

The Honolulu Academy of Arts is an art museum in Honolulu in the state of Hawaii. Since its founding in 1922 by Anna Rice Cooke and opening April 8, 1927, its collections have grown to over 40,000 works of art.-Description:...

, the Montana Historical Society (Helena, Montana), the Museum of Art (Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...

, Provo, Utah), the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego , in San Diego, California, USA, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present.-History:...

 (La Jolla, California), the Neuberger Museum of Art (Purchase College, Purchase, New York), the Oklahoma City Museum of Art (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma), the Portland Art Museum

Portland Art Museum

The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it the oldest art museum on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the United States. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum became one of the twenty-five largest art museums in...

 (Portland, Oregon), the San Diego Museum of Art

San Diego Museum of Art

The San Diego Museum of Art is a fine arts museum located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California that houses a broad collection with particular strength in Spanish art. The San Diego Museum of Art opened as The Fine Arts Gallery of San Diego on February 28, 1926, and changed its name to the San...

 (San Diego, California), Yellowstone Art Museum

Yellowstone Art Museum

The Yellowstone Art Museum in downtown Billings, Montana is the largest museum in the region .Visitors are welcomed by a rotating spoon called "Will He Drill" at the museum lobby. The old Yellowstone county prison was transformed into the art museum in 1964 and was expanded several times...

 (Billings, Montana), and the Asheville Art Museum

Asheville Art Museum

The Asheville Art Museum is the only community based nonprofit visual art organization in Western North Carolina and is Accredited by the American Association of Museums. Its vision is to transform lives through art...

(Asheville, North Carolina) are among the public collections holding work by Emerson Woelffer.