Burgoyne Diller is recognized as the first American artist to work in a geometric abstract style.

Born in New York, he grew up in Battle Creek, Michigan, and attended Michigan State College on a track scholarship. Visits to the Art Institute of Chicago nurtured his artistic interests and brought him into contact with the work of Paul Cezanne, an artist he deeply admired. Desirous of pursuing an artistic career, Diller studied at the Art Students League in New York from 1929 to 1933, working under Jan Matulka, Hans Hotmann and others. During this period, he explored aspects of Analytic and Synthetic Cubism. However, inspired by examples of Russian Suprematism and Constructivism, and especially by the Neoplasticism of Piet Mondrian, he evolved an abstract mode of painting based on rigorous configurations of lines, angles, and primary colors.

Diller championed the cause of nonrepresentational art through his membership in American Abstract Artists, and as managing supervisor of the Mural Division of the WPA Federal Art Project in New York, he secured commissions for many of his fellow abstractionists. Diller also taught at Brooklyn College and the Pratt Institute.

His oeuvre includes paintings, sculptures, collages, and drawings.

Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton