Hungarian born, Emil Bisttram became one of the Southwest's leading painters and teachers. He was a founder of the Transcendental Art movement in New Mexico, devoted to themes exploring and promoting universal meaning that included idealistic forms and colors that suggested sounds.

Best known as an abstract painter, his style ranged from the classic regionalism of the 1930s (WPA murals) to abstractions based on the dynamic symmetry theories he learned from Jay Hambidge, tempered by Roerich's Russian mysticism. Indeed, Bisttram would often speak of his association with Nicholas Roerich at the Master Institute in New York City, citing a story where the Russian master handed him a handful of wider brushes for his ...