Charles Demuth, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, 1928

Where was Charles Demuth born?

Lancaster Pennsylvania

When was Demuth born?

1883

Where did Demuth study?

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later in Paris

What are Demuths best known works?

Watercolor paintings

Demuths water color paintings are still lives of what?

Vegetables and flowers, industrial landscapes often made around his home area of Lancaster County

What scenes would Demuth paint?

Entertainment such as music halls, circuses, and artistic parties

Who did Demuth become friends with in Paris?

Marsden Hartley

What did Demuth and Marsden Hartley find different about Europe?

European society was more welcoming for gay men than America

Who did Hartley introduce Demuth to?

Alfred Stieglitz

When did Stieglitz give Demuth a solo show?

1926

Who suggested that Stieglitz did not wholeheartedly support Demuths career?

Wanda Corn

Why did Wanda Corn suggest that Stieglitz did not support Demuth career as much as other in his circle?

Due to Demuths identity as a gay man

What abstraction does I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold use?

Geometric abstraction

How does Geometric abstraction build forms?

Using primarily straight lines and rigid simple shapes such as squares and triangles

What has Western art tried to deny?

The flatness of the painted surface

How does Western art deny the flatness of the painted surface?

By creating convincing illusions of three-dimensional depth

What techniques does Western art employ to create a three dimensional illusion?

Chiaroscuro, perspective, and modeling

How does geometric abstraction break down three dimensional objects?

Using shapes and lines, often without shading

How does geometric abstraction represent three dimensional objects?

A arrangements of marks on a two-dimensional surface

Cubism falls into what category?

Geometric abstraction

What other movements fall into the category of geometric abstraction?

Italian Futurism, Russian Suprematism and Constructivism, and Vorticism in the UK

What is a central challenge for artists working in geometric abstraction?

Arranging compositions into lines and shapes that clearly sit on a two-dimensional surface while presenting a sensation of movement volume and depth

What Cubists was Demuth inspired by?

Georges Braue and Pablo Picasso

What other members of the Stieglitz circle were practitioners of geometric abstraction?

John Marin and Max Weber

Demuth maintained friendships working in what different media?

Poets, playwrights, critics, and fellow painters

What did Demuth create to celebrate his friends?

A new style of non-representational portraiture

Demuths non-representational portraiture was called what?

Poster portraits

What are poster portraits?

Works that referenced the subject using symbols images and texts relating to their life and work

Poster portraits combine elements of what?

The visual appearance of advertising and product labels with elements taken from the Cubist style

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold is a portrait of who?

William Carlos Williams

What was Williams job?

He was a Poet

Where did Williams and Demuth meet?

In a boarding house while studying in Philadelphia

What did WIlliam study at the University of Pennsylvania?

Medicine

What literary modernists was Williams friends with?

Erza Pound and H.D. (Hilda Dolittle)

Williams and his modernist friend practices a type of poetry called what?

Imagism

What did imagism focus on?

Conveying clear, direct imagery without the mediation of figurative language or artificial impositions like rhyme schemes

What did Williams say about poetry?

Poetry no longer needed to rely on narrative

To Williams what comprised a poems meaning?

Its composition, sensory impressions, or the sounds of the words when read aloud

What colors does I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold use?

Red, gold, and shades of gray

How are the colors in I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold applied?

Using thing small brushstrokes

The thin small brushstrokes used in I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold resemble what?

Stencils used in commercial advertising

How many times in the number 5 repeated?

3 times

The recession of the 5’s give the impression of what?

Recession into space, rabid movement, or a sound fading away

The several pale circles mimic what?

Streetlamps

What color are the streetlamps in I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold?

Pale gold

The streetlamps hint at what?

Angular, tall buildings filled with windows

The scene of I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold is set where?

An urban setting

What words mimic bright electrical signage?

“BILL” and “CARLO”

Where does Demuth sign I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold?

In the lower left

Demuths signature on his work resembles what?

Industrial stencil

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold is a representation of what?

William’s poem “The Great Figure”

When was The Great Figure released?

1921

What does The Great Figure represent?

A fire engine’s noisy progress down an urban street

How does Demuth indicate the engine noise and movement?

The repetition of shrinking nested numbers, and angular lines that radiate from the center

What color are the angular lines radiating from the center of I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold?

Grey

Rather than creating a vanishing point the grey radiating lines do what?

Allow the painter to create an illusion of rushing peed and echoing sound

What is Demuths cause of death?

Diabetes

When did Demuth pass away?

1935

What mission did Demuth and Williams hold?

Promoting modernism across the arts in America