BLUM, ROBERT FREDERICK American artist, was born in Cincinnati (0.), on July 9, 1857. He was employed for a time in a lithographic shop, and studied at the McMicken Art School of Design in Cincinnati, and at the Pennsyl vania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, but he was practically self-taught, and early showed great and original talent. He settled in New York in 1879, and his first published sketches—of Jap anese jugglers—appeared in St. Nicholas. His most important work is a large frieze in the Mendelssohn Music Hall, New York, "Music and the Dance" (1895) . His pen-and-ink work for the Century magazine attracted wide attention, as did his illustra tions for Sir Edwin Arnold's Japonica. He had been interested for years in Japan and its art. "A Daughter of Japan," drawn by Blum and W. J. Baer, was the cover of Scribner's Magazine for May 1893, and was one of the earliest pieces of colour-print ing for an American magazine. In Scribner's for 1893 appeared also his "Artist's Letters from Japan." He was an admirer of Fortuny, whose methods somewhat influenced his work. Blum's Venetian pictures, such as "A Bright Day at Venice'' (1882), have lively charm and beauty. He died June 8, go3 in New York city. He was a member of the National Academy of Design, being elected after his exhibition in 1892 of "The Ameya," and was president of the Painters in Pastel. Although an excellent draughtsman and etcher, it was as a colourist that he chiefly excelled.