Joy (The Dance, Dance on the Shore)

Max Bohm was born in Cleveland, OH, but spent much of his life in Europe, where he was recognized as one of the foremost American painters of his generation. Practically unknown in the US, he began exhibiting here in his late career and went on to receive the highest critical and public acclaim.

Bohm observed and interpreted life through the broad, universal understanding of the genuine artist, and his brush lent to a large range of themes the same conviction, the same triumph of idea over medium. Regardless of subject, he entered firmly into the spirit of it with an eloquence of line, a living color, and a control of mood that reveal extraordinary power.

In describing Bohm's art, one New York critic wrote in 1927: "The work of this painter achieves the rare mastery of combining great sincerity with versatility." Along with the National Arts Club, his work is included in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery in Washington, DC, the Luxenbourg Gallery in Paris, and other leading museums in the US and abroad.