Artist of the Day, October 12, 2020: Charles Demuth, an American painter (#1117)

Charles Henry Buckius Demuth (1883 –1935) was an American painter who specialized in watercolors and turned to oils late in his career, developing a style of painting known as Precisionism.

Demuth was a lifelong resident of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The home he shared with his mother is now the Demuth Museum, which showcases his work. He graduated from Franklin & Marshall Academy before studying at Drexel University and at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While he was a student at PAFA, he participated in a show at the Academy, and also met William Carlos Williams at his boarding house. The two were fast friends and remained close for the rest of their lives.

He later studied at Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian in Paris, where he became a part of the avant garde art scene. The Parisian artistic community was accepting of Demuth's homosexuality. After his return to America, Demuth retained aspects of Cubism in many of his works.

Throughout his career, Demuth remained deeply attached to Lancaster. The city's modest commercial and civic architecture was the subject of hundreds of his watercolors and paintings. His depictions of warehouses, factories and row houses imbue these ordinary structures (sometimes ironically) with a grandeur and glamor normally associated with cathedrals, palaces and temples.

Demuth either suffered an injury when he was four years old, or may have had polio or tuberculosis of the hip, leaving him with a marked limp and requiring him to use a cane. He later developed diabetes and was one of the early people in the United States to receive insulin. Demuth pronounced his surname with emphasis upon the first syllable, earning him the nickname "Deem" among close friends.

While he was in Paris he met Marsden Hartley by walking up to a table of American artists and asking if he could join them. He had a great sense of humor, rich in double entendres, and they asked him to be a regular member of their group. Through Hartley, he met Alfred Stieglitz and became a member of the Stieglitz group. In 1926, he had a one-man show at the Anderson Galleries and another at Intimate Gallery, the New York gallery run by Stieglitz. Demuth was introduced to modernism during trips to Europe between 1907 and 1921.

His most famous painting, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, was inspired by his friend William Carlos Williams's poem "The Great Figure".

Demuth, along with Georgia O'Keeffe and Charles Sheeler, was a major contributor to the Precisionist art movement, which began to evolve in America around 1915. Demuth's works often depicted a specific range of forms in a quasi-Cubist, sharply defined manner, a characteristic of Precisionism. Frequently occurring scenes within Demuth's works are urban and rural landscapes, often consisting of industrial features such as bridges, smoke stacks, and skyscrapers. Demuth's "Aucassin and Nicolette," which can be viewed below, is an exemplary work of Precisionist art. Notable features include the highly structured scene lacking figures, depiction of an industrial setting, and sharp linearity created by geometric figures with no hint of abstraction.[9] Demuth's works of this nature have been perceived as ironic and pessimistic in light of their subject matter.

Demuth began a series of paintings in 1919, inspired by the architecture of Lancaster. In creating these works, Demuth opted not to use watercolors, instead created the works in oil and tempera. Additionally, these works are larger than many of his others. They possess a balance between realism and abstraction. In 1927, Demuth started a series of seven panel paintings depicting factory buildings in his hometown. He finished the last of the seven, After All in 1933. Six of the paintings were highlighted in Chimneys and Towers: Charles Demuth’s Late Paintings of Lancaster, a 2007 Amon Carter Museum retrospective of his work, displayed in 2008 at the Whitney Museum of American Art. According to the exhibit notes from the Amon Carter show, Demuth's will left many of his paintings to Georgia O'Keeffe. Her strategic decisions regarding which museums received these works cemented his reputation as a major painter of the Precisionist school.

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Self-Portrait, 1907

  Nana (Seated Left) and Satin at Laure's Restaurant (Illustration for Emile Zola's Nana). 1916

The Shine. 1916

Vaudeville Musicians. 1917

Bermuda No. 2, The Schooner. 1917

 Trees and Barns Bermuda. 1917

  At a House in Harley Street. 1918

  Dancing Sailors. 1918

  Vaudeville Dancers. 1918

 Early Houses, Provincetown. 1918

 Turkish Bath with Self Portrait. 1918

  Female Acrobats. 1919

  Study for Acrobats. 1919

 Acrobats. 1919

 Backdrop of East Lynne. 1919

 Sail In Two Movements. 1919

  Lancaster. 1920

  Stairs, Provincetown. 1920

 Machinery. 1920

 Aucassin and Nicolette. 1921

 Flour Mill Factory. 1921

 Incense of a New Church. 1921

 Lancaster. 1921

 Roofs and Steeple. 1921

 Rue du Singe Qui Pêche. 1921

 Study for Poster Portrait. 1921

 Welcome to Our City. 1921

 From the Garden of the Chateau. 1921-25

  Eggplant and Tomatoes. 1926

 My Egypt. 1927

  Saw the Figure 5 in Gold. 1928

 Love Love Love. 1928

  Corn and Peaches. 1929

 Buildings Abstraction, Lancaster, 1931

 Chimney and watertower. 1931