Dancing Sailors

1907–1921

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.