Vigo County Historical Society
Historical Treasure Article

May 2, 1993
By Dr. Dipa Sarkar
Vigo County Historical Society

Fannie Blumberg’s creative genius lives on

Fannie Burgheim Blumberg was born Feb. 11, 1894, in Indianapolis, an only child of a watch salesman, Louis, and petite Rachel Heimes Burgheim.

She graduated from Madam Blaker’s Kindergarten College (later absorbed into Butler University). During her school years, she developed the creative writing skill that she demonstrated so well in her later literary works. She taught school before her marriage.

In August 1916, she married Benjamin Blumberg, a young lawyer from Terre Haute. They had four children--one son and three daughters. Their home was on a 10-acre farm located at the corner of Fruitridge Avenue and Hulman Street. These were very busy years that left her no time to write and the genius of drawing and painting was not even suspected.

After her last child was born and with much encouragement from one of her friends, who also introduced her to the local muralist, Gilbert Wilson, she thought of her artistic inclinations.

Wilson was so impressed with her talents he later described her in this way: “She was like Minerva--she sprang to birth as an artist full blown and helmeted.”

She studied painting with Franz Joseph Bollinger and Byron J. Newton in Miami, and in Los Angeles with Suco Serisawa, a famous Japanese artist who was perhaps her most inspiring instructor.

A visit to Art Colony at Woodstock, N.Y. brought her to the attention of an art dealer, Rudolph Fiolie, who brought her to the professional art world, and her artistic life began to soar.

She worked with oil, water and allied media. She had a built-in sense of color, form and design. She never painted what she saw, but what she felt. She was bold--she liked strength. She liked big flowers with crisp green leaves. She received her inspirations from her surroundings--trees, birds, flowers and of course, people.

Fannie Blumberg became a nationally known artist and had many exhibitions, both locally (DePauw University, Indiana State University, the Swope Art Gallery) and in faraway places. Permanent collections of her work may be found at the Butler Museum of Youngstown, Lowe Gallery at Miami, and in many private collections.

Her talents were not only in the area of art, but also in literature. She became an author of children’s stories. Her best known books were “Rowena, Teena, Tot,” “Blackberries,” “The Peace Finder” and “The First Circus.”

She wrote many other children’s books suited to various ages, plays (a puppet show), poems and even stories for adults. She also left many unpublished manuscripts.

She had a kind heart. She was a benefactress of many organizations, apart from DePauw and ISU. She was involved with the Girl Scouts and the Mental Health Center. Her special interest was to help children who were mentally or physically impaired and those who were disadvantaged.

She died at the age of 70 on July 9, 1964, at her home at 4003 Hulman St.

She lives forever in her paintings, in her stories and in her charity to many organizations. I would like to end with her daughter’s words: “She is not dead--the light went out.”

The Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St., is open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday.


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