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William SommerWire Haired Girl and Catc. 1930
c. 1930
About the Item
Wire Haired Girl and Cat
Pen and ink with watercolor, c. 1930
Signed with the Estate stamp "B"
Provenance: Estate of the Artist
By descent to his son Edward
Joseph M. Erdelac, noted Cleveland collector and huge Sommer collector
Sheet size: 12 x 8 inches
Condition: Excellent
Note: There is a letter written by Sommer on the reverse
"Upper right inscription:
“Have your dream house glorified with colour properly placed in proper colour combinations that throw off light like the sun.”
Lower right inscription
“Martha (artist’s wife)
In the process of painting. I have made a special study of mixtures as to durability and harmony using only colors that will hold and ___ mixture.”
William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer.
He briefly studied at an art academy in Germany and then worked as a lithographer in New York before moving to Cleveland, where he was awarded a major contract with the Otis Lithography Company. There he became friends with sculptor and painter William Zorach, and the two, determined to be fine artists, began painting together on weekends. They also became intrigued by avant-garde movements, especially after Zorach's trip to Paris in 1910.
In 1911, Sommer co-founded a group in Cleveland called the Kokoon Club, a mixed group of commercial artists and radical modernists who sought the freedom to pursue their independent tendencies. They converted a tailor's shop into a studio and held exhibitions and lectures and organized an annual masked ball that became the focus of Cleveland's bohemian life.
In 1913, he and his colleagues began painting at Brandywine, about 30 miles south of Cleveland and made a school house into a studio. They devoted increasing time to watercolor painting because they could work spontaneously and it would dry quickly. Rejecting the conventional ideas of beauty, they strove for the expression of emotion and spontaneity and fantasy. One of Sommer's most successful students was Charles Burchfield.
As he was perfecting his mature style, he had financial difficulties because he made his living from commercial lithography, which was becoming obsolete, and the Depression was hitting the nation causing him to lose his job. He became a WPA artist, doing murals in northeastern Ohio.
After his death at age 82, he was largely forgotten until 1980 when Hilton Kramer, a "New York Times" critic, praised his work. In May to July, 1994, the Ohio Arts Council held a retrospective of his work at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus. His work is found in many public collections including the National Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Courtesy, AskArt
- Creator:William Sommer (1867-1949, American)
- Creation Year:c. 1930
- Dimensions:Height: 12 in (30.48 cm)Width: 8 in (20.32 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Fairlawn, OH
- Reference Number:
About the Seller
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Associations
International Fine Print Dealers Association
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Fairlawn, OH
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 10 days of delivery.
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