Life and Art of Charles Demuth, Precisionist Painter

Life and Art of Charles Demuth, Precisionist Painter Charles Demuth (November 8, 1883 – October 23, 1935) was an American Modernist painter best known for his use of watercolor to portray the industrial and natural landscapes of his Pennsylvania hometown. His paintings emerged out of the abstract Cubist style and ultimately led to a new movement called Precisionism. Fast Facts: Charles Demuth Occupation: Artist (painter)Known For: Abstract Cubist style and involvement in the Precisionist movementBorn:  November  8, 1883 in Lancaster, PennsylvaniaDied:  October  23, 1935  in Lancaster, PennsylvaniaEducation: Franklin Marshall College and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Selected Paintings: My Egypt (1927);  I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (1928);  Roofs and Steeple (1921) Early Years and Training Demuth was born and raised in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, whose urban landscape and emerging industrial setting served as an inspiration for several of his paintings. Demuth was ill and often bedridden as a child. During those times, his mother kept him entertained by providing him with watercolor supplies, thus giving the young Demuth his start in the arts. He eventually portrayed the agricultural portraits he knew best: flowers, fruit and vegetables. Demuth graduated from Franklin Marshall Academy, which later become Franklin Marshall College, in Lancaster. He also studied at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia and in the arts scenes of New York, Provincetown, and Bermuda. He socialized with and was photographed by Alfred Stieglitz, who was working at the time to organize exhibits of modernist art for his American Place Gallery in New York. Demuth spent time studying art in Paris, where he was part of the avant garde scene. His contemporaries included  Georgia OKeeffe, Marcel DuChamp, Marsden Hartley and Alfred Steiglitz. Painting in His Own Backyard Though he traveled to and was influence by exotic locales, Demuth painted most of his art in the second-story studio of his Lancaster home, which overlooked a garden. In the painting My Egypt (1927), Demuth depicted a grain elevator, a massive structure used to store the harvest, next to row house rooftops. Both structures are common in the rich agriculture economy and historic urban setting of Lancaster County. Like many of his contemporaries in the arts, Demuth was fascinated with Americas landscape, which was being altered at the hands of industrialism. He saw firsthand the smokestacks and water towers in cities such as Philadelphia, New York and Paris. He painted those skylines and contrasted them with grain elevators that were common in his hometown. The Precisionist Style The movement to which Demuth belonged, Precisionism, stressed visual order and clarity in the visual arts and combined those facets with a celebration of technology and expression of speed through dynamic compositions, according to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Demuth and his fellow Precisionists painted distinctly American landscapes in an intentional move to distance themselves from European artists. Demuths most famous work is a 1928 oil painting called I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, which has been described as a masterpiece of the Precisionism movement. The painting was inspired by the poem The Great Figure by William Carlos Williams. Williams, who had met Demuth at Philadelphias Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, wrote the famous poem after watching a fire engine speed by on a Manhattan street. Demuth tried to capture the following lines in his painting: Among the rainand lightsI saw the figure 5in goldon a redfiretruckmovingtenseunheededto gong clangssiren howlsand wheels rumblingthrough the dark city I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, as well as other Demuth paintings, served as an influence on commercial artists who later designed movie posters and book covers. Later Life and Legacy Demuth was diagnosed with diabetes at a relatively young age, and the condition made him weak before he turned 40. He spent his final years confined to his mothers home in Lancaster, away from his fellow artists working in Paris, and died at age 51. Demuth made a significant impact on the art world with the development of the Precisionist movement. His emphasis on geometrical forms  and industrial  subject matter came to exemplify the ideals of Precisionism. Sources Further Reading Johnson, Ken. â€Å"Chimneys and Towers: Charles Demuths Late Paintings of Lancaster - Art - Review.† The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Feb. 2008, www.nytimes.com/2008/02/27/arts/design/27demu.html.Murphy, Jessica. â€Å"Precisionism.† In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. metmuseum.org/toah/hd/prec/hd_prec.htmSmith, Roberta. â€Å"Precisionism And a Few Of Its Friends.† The New York Times, The New York Times, 11 Dec. 1994, www.nytimes.com/1994/12/11/arts/art-view-precisionism-and-a-few-of-its-friends.html?ftay.