Charles DemuthTwo Women and a Child on the Beach at Provincetownc. 1934
c. 1934
About the Item
- Creator:Charles Demuth (1883-1935, American)
- Creation Year:c. 1934
- Dimensions:Height: 8.5 in (21.59 cm)Width: 10.5 in (26.67 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:Original.
- Gallery Location:Fairlawn, OH
- Reference Number:
Charles Demuth
Acclaimed for his lively Impressionistic watercolors — as well as for his important role in Precisionism, a movement that emphasized geometry and shared commonalities with Cubism and Futurism — American painter Charles Demuth created some of his most recognized works on borrowed time. In the final decade of his life, plagued by ailing health, Demuth painted his renowned Precisionist works like I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold and My Egypt. With each painting, Demuth filled up a life bookended by illness — maladies that both ignited his art career and, ultimately, snuffed it out.
Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Demuth was bedridden at a young age, around four or five, from what would come to be known as Perthes, which affected his mobility and forced him to spend much of his youth at home. Fortunately, his mother provided him with an ample amount of art supplies and nurtured a passion for painting that he sustained over the course of his life.
While Demuth relied on a cane for much of his life, he was well enough to attend Franklin and Marshall College and study art at both Drexel University and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. He completed his first oil self-portrait in 1907 and met the first of what would become a string of influential friends in American artist William Merritt Chase and American painter and arts administrator Thomas Anshutz.
Shifting his focus from oil paintings to watercolors after concluding his studies, Demuth created works that depicted Harlem Renaissance-era jazz clubs and chronicled taboo gay subculture in New York City. The artist was openly gay, and works of this type, even as they were not intended for public exhibition at the time, influenced artists such as Andy Warhol in the decades that followed. His network grew to include artists Alfred Maurer, Patrick Henry Bruce, John Marin and photographer Edward Steichen. American photographer Alfred Stieglitz and modernist painter Georgia O’Keeffe proved to be among the most artistically influential on Demuth. Stieglitz’s famed art gallery in New York, 291, became a spot that the Pennsylvania painter frequented and a location at which he developed an interest in Auguste Rodin’s watercolors and O’Keeffe’s Precisionism.
Demuth also befriended wealthy pharmacist Dr. Albert Barnes in 1905. After the artist received his diabetes diagnosis, a death sentence at the time, Barnes requested Demuth consult with Dr. Frederick Allen, then the leading expert on diabetes in America. Barnes helped with funding Demuth’s insulin treatment — the painter was among the first patients to receive insulin in the United States. Demuth turned largely to painting still lifes of flowers and produce that his mother brought into the house. He died in 1935.
Today, the Barnes Foundation holds the largest collection of Demuth’s artwork. His paintings are also held in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Demuth Museum, which is located in Demuth’s former studio and home and merged with the Lancaster Museum of Art in 2014.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of Charles Demuth drawings and watercolor paintings.
- ShippingRetrieving quote...Ships From: Fairlawn , OH
- Return PolicyA return for this item may be initiated within 10 days of delivery.
- Bull engaging the muleta (Bull Fight)By Robert HallowellLocated in Fairlawn, OHBull engaging the muleta (Bull Fight) Signed with the Estate stamp lower left (See photo) Provenance: Estate of the Artist Marbella Gallery Inc., NYC Refer...Category
Mid-20th Century American Modern Animal Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Bull Ring Brass - Mexico CityBy Stephen LongstreetLocated in Fairlawn, OHBull Ring Brass - Mexico City Watercolor, pen and ink on paper, 1955 Signed in ink, dated and titled in pencil (see photos) Condition: 1'' repaired tear left edge, along with other minor tears. Tape stains from previous matting visible in the four corners Image/Sheet size: 19 3/8 x 15 5/8 inches Provenance: Acquired directly from the Artist Joseph M. Erdelac, Cleveland, friend and patron of Longstreet Stephen Longstreet (1907-2002) The artist’s own grandchildren attempt to fathom the real life and nature of Stephen Longstreet, prolific author, artist, screenplay writer, and jazz aficionado. Born Chauncy Weiner (sometimes spelled Wiener) in New York City in 1907, Longstreet reinvented himself on a regular basis. Changing his name first to “Henry,” then “Henri,” he started his career as a commercial artist for a department store. In various public biographies he claimed to have studied in New York, London, and Paris, and said he was a student of cartoonist Ralph Barton (1891-1931). Facts that can be documented are that he was art editor for Golfer and Sportsman magazines, and was a contributor to various other magazines including The New Yorker, Saturday Evening Post, Colliers, Life, and Hooey, among others. He wrote sketches for NBC radio and the Rudy Vallee Show. In the 1930s, Longstreet worked and wrote under the names Thomas Burton, David Ormsbee, and Paul Haggard...Category
1950s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsIndia Ink, Watercolor, Pen
- Head of a Young Woman with Blond HairBy William SommerLocated in Fairlawn, OHHead of a Young Woman with Blond Hair Watercolor on paper mounted on rag paper support, c. 1930 Signed with the Estate Stamp B Provenance: Estate of the Artist ...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Lonly (Lonely)By Stephen LongstreetLocated in Fairlawn, OHSigned lower right Provenance: Joseph M. Erdelac, Cleveland, OH Possibly deaccessed from the Columbus Museum of Art THOMAS FRENCH FINE ART, LLC Stephen Longstreet (1907-2002) A...Category
20th Century American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Interior Scene with FiguresBy Louis SchankerLocated in Fairlawn, OHInterior Scene with Figures Ink and watercolor on paper, c. 1930's Signed with the Estate stamp lower center Condition: Loss upper right corner; two small tears lower margin Colors very fresh and vibrant Provenance: Jem Hom Gallery, Washington, D.C. Martin Dimanond Fine Arts, NYC (?) Louis Schanker (1903–1981)[1] was an American abstract artist. "He grew up in an Orthodox Jewish environment in the Bronx, New York. His parents, Sam, a tailor, and Fannie Schanker, were of Romanian descent.[2] He had five siblings.[3] At an early age he had an interest in both art and music He took art courses at Cooper Union, The Educational Alliance and The Art Students League with Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko and Milton Avery amongst others. During this time he shared a coldwater studio with the Soyer brothers, Chaim Gross and Adolph Gottlieb. In 1920 he traveled across the country. He lived the hobo life, joined the Sparks and then Barnum and Bailey circuses, later working as a thresher in the wheat fields of the Great Plains. There are elements in his works such as the circus murals...Category
1930s American Modern Drawings and Watercolor Paintings
MaterialsWatercolor
- Wire Haired Girl and CatBy William SommerLocated in Fairlawn, OHWire Haired Girl and Cat Pen and ink with watercolor, c. 1930 Signed with the Estate stamp "B" Provenance: Estate of the Artist By d...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- BYE BYE BIRDIE Original 1960 Broadway Musical Costume Drawing Tony Award ElvisLocated in New York, NYBYE BYE BIRDIE Original 1960 Broadway Musical Costume Drawing Tony Award Elvis. Miles White (1915 – 2000) BYE BYE BIRDIE 11 x 8 inches Mixed Media on...Category
1960s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor, Gouache, Pencil
- Glassblowers WPA American Scene Mid- 20th Century Modern Figurative Workers 1932By Harry GottliebLocated in New York, NYGlassblowers WPA American Scene Mid- 20th Century Modern Figurative Workers. Dated and signed "32 Harry Gottlieb" lower right. Sight: 13 1/8" H x 18 1/4" W. Harry Gottlieb, painter, screenprinter, educator, and lithographer, was born in Bucharest, Rumania. He emigrated to America in 1907, and his family settled in Minneapolis. From 1915 to 1917, Gottlieb attended the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. After a short stint as an illustrator for the U.S. Navy, Gottlieb moved to New York City; he became a scenic and costume designer for Eugene O"Neill's Provincetown Theater Group. He also studied at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts and the National Academy of Design. He was one of America's first Social Realist painters, influenced by that Robert Henri-led movement in New York City where Gottlieb settled in 1918. He was also a pioneer in screen printing, which he learned while working for the WPA. He married Eugenie Gershoy, and the couple joined the artist colony at Woodstock, New York. He lectured widely on art education. In 1923, Gottlieb settled in Woodstock, New York and in 1931, spent a a year abroad studying under a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 1935, he joined the Federal Art Project...Category
1930s American Modern Figurative Paintings
MaterialsPaper, Gouache
- "Grimacing Giant"By James Joseph KearnsLocated in Southampton, NYMid century charcoal and watercolor drawing with grey wash of a grimacing giant by the American artist, James Joseph Kearns. Titled and dated lower left and signed and dated again l...Category
1950s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsArchival Paper, Charcoal, Watercolor
- AlongsideBy William ThonLocated in Myrtle Beach, SCWilliam Thon, 'Alongside', watercolor, c. 1990. Signed, lower right; titled verso. A fine, expressionist work, on off-white watercolor paper; the image extending to the sheet edges, ...Category
1950s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Volcano and Arch, Taormina, Sicily, Italy, Mid Century Cleveland School ArtistBy Clarence Holbrook CarterLocated in Beachwood, OHClarence Holbrook Carter (American, 1904-2000) Volcano and Arch, Taormina, 1961 Watercolor on scintilla paper Signed and dated upper right 11 x 11 inches "My last year in art schoo...Category
1960s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsWatercolor
- Handsome Couple in Sailboat - Collier's Magazine IllustrationBy Earl Oliver HurstLocated in Miami, FLCollier's Magazine Illustration From the Estate of Charles Martignette. Work is framed in a period wood frame Watercolor on boardCategory
1940s American Modern Figurative Drawings and Watercolors
MaterialsBoard, Watercolor