Charles DemuthAmerican, 1883–1935In Vaudeville
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Harvard Art Museums
Cambridge, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1949.10
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © Harvard Art Museums President and Fellows of Harvard College
Meanwhile, in the life of Charles Demuth
The whole life1907–1921
Encounters modernism on trips to Europe
On trips to Europe between 1907 and 1921 he is introduced to modernism; in Paris he studies at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie Julian and joins the avant-garde scene, where his homosexuality is accepted. Before that he had studied in Philadelphia, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts under Thomas Anshutz, where he befriended the future poet William Carlos Williams — the two remained close for life.
1907–1921
Meets Hartley, and through him Stieglitz
In Paris he walks up to a table of American artists and asks to join them, and so meets Marsden Hartley; his humour, rich in double entendres, makes him a regular member of their group. Through Hartley he meets Alfred Stieglitz and joins the Stieglitz group; he is also a regular guest at Gertrude Stein’s salon.
c. 1915
Helps shape Precisionism
Around 1915 Precisionism begins to evolve in America, and Demuth, with Georgia O’Keeffe and Charles Sheeler, becomes one of its major contributors. His works typically show sharply defined, quasi-Cubist forms and urban and rural scenes with bridges, smokestacks and skyscrapers.
