Art Section 2 (Modernist Painting)

What term is sometimes used to refer to the group of artists associated with Stieglitz?

His "circle."

Inspired by European avant-garde art, what did many modernist painters incorporate into their work?

Innovations from Cubism and Expressionism.

What were modernist painters seeking to move away from?

Narrative and naturalism.

What were modernist painters seeking to move towards?

Abstract forms.

Besides European art, what else were modernist painters responding to?

A larger culture of modernist experimentation in the arts, including literature, poetry, and music.

What is the title of the first selected work in this section?

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold.

Who painted "I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold"?

Charles Demuth.

In what city and state was Charles Demuth born?

Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

In what year was Charles Demuth born?

1883.

Where did Charles Demuth study art?

The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and later in Paris.

What type of paintings are Demuth's best-known works?

His watercolor paintings.

What were common subjects in Demuth's watercolor paintings?

Still lives of vegetables and flowers, industrial landscapes, and scenes of entertainments.

Where were Demuth's industrial landscapes often made?

Around his home area of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Name three types of entertainments Demuth depicted in his art.

Music halls, circuses, and artistic parties.

Who did Demuth become friends with while living in Paris before World War I?

Fellow American painter Marsden Hartley.

Why did Demuth and Hartley find European society more welcoming than America?

Both artists were gay men.

Who later introduced Demuth to Alfred Stieglitz?

Marsden Hartley.

When did Stieglitz give Demuth a solo show?

1926.

According to art historian Wanda Corn, how did Stieglitz support Demuth's career compared to others in his circle?

She suggests Stieglitz did not wholeheartedly support Demuth as much as others.

What reason does Wanda Corn posit for Stieglitz's potentially less enthusiastic support of Demuth?

Demuth's identity as a gay man may have prejudiced Stieglitz against him, even if unconsciously.

What type of 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 had Western art tried to deny since the Renaissance?

The flatness of the painted surface.

How had Western art tried to create illusions of three-dimensional depth?

Using chiaroscuro, perspective, and modeling.

How does geometric abstraction represent three-dimensional objects?

By breaking them down into arrangements of marks on a two-dimensional surface using shapes and lines, often without shading.

Name four early art movements that fall into the category of geometric abstraction.

Early Cubism, Italian Futurism, Russian Suprematism and Constructivism, and Vorticism in the United Kingdom.

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 also presenting a sensation of movement, volume, and depth.

Which Cubist artists inspired Demuth's application of geometric abstraction?

Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso.

Name two other practitioners of geometric abstraction in the Stieglitz circle.

John Marin and Max Weber.

Besides painters, who else did Demuth maintain friendships with?

Poets, playwrights, and critics.

What new style of nonrepresentational portraiture did Demuth invent to celebrate his friends?

"Poster portraits."

How did Demuth's "poster portraits" reference their subjects?

Using symbols, images, and texts relating to their life and work, rather than visual likenesses.

Describe the visual characteristics of Demuth's poster portraits.

Bold, graphic works that combine the visual appearance of advertising and product labels with elements from the Cubist style.

Who is the subject of the "poster portrait" I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold?

Demuth's close friend, the poet William Carlos Williams.

How did Williams and Demuth first meet?

As lodgers in a boarding house while studying in Philadelphia.

Where was Demuth studying in Philadelphia?

At the art academy.

Where was Williams studying in Philadelphia?

At the University of Pennsylvania medical school.

Name two other literary modernists who were friends with William Carlos Williams.

Ezra Pound and H. D. (Hilda Dolittle).

What type of poetry did Williams, Pound, and H. D. practice?

Imagism.

What was the focus of the Imagism movement in poetry?

Conveying clear, direct imagery without figurative language or artificial impositions like rhyme schemes.

What were poets trying to challenge during the same years painters were?

Traditional rules of composition and form.

According to Williams, what is a poem?

An object that in itself formally presents its case and its meaning by the very form it assumes.

What did Williams believe poetry no longer needed to rely on?

Narrative.

According to Williams, what comprised a poem's meaning?

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

What makes Demuth's choice of composition in I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold a compelling match for Williams's poetry?

The aesthetic sharpness of the painting aligns with the aesthetic sharpness of Williams's poems.

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

Red, gold, and shades of gray.

How are the colors applied in the painting?

Using thin, small brushstrokes, creating sharp outlines that resemble stencils used in commercial advertising.

What is at the center of the composition in I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold?

The number 5, repeated three times, each smaller number resting within the curve of the larger one.

What impression does the repetition of the nested number 5 create?

An impression of recession into space, rapid movement, or a sound fading away.

What is behind the gold numbers in the painting?

An irregular polygon composed of several square and triangular forms in tints ranging from pale to bright red.

What is depicted above the red polygon, mimicking streetlamps?

Several circles in pale gold.

What hints at an urban setting in the upper part of the painting?

Hints at angular, tall buildings filled with windows.

What words mimic bright electrical signage in the upper part of the painting?

"BILL" and "CARLO."

Where does Demuth sign the work, and what style of lettering does he use?

Lower left, in simple block letters resembling an industrial stencil.

What other reference to his subject does Demuth incorporate at the bottom of the painting?

The initials "WCW."

What poem by William Carlos Williams is I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold a representation of?

"The Great Figure" (1921).

What does Williams's poem "The Great Figure" describe?

A fire engine's noisy progress down an urban street.

Besides the repetition of the numbers, how does Demuth indicate the engine's noise and movement?

With angular lines in shades of gray that radiate from the center of the canvas

In what year was Georgia O'Keeffe born, and what did this make her in relation to the Stieglitz group?

1887, one of the youngest members.

Where did O'Keeffe start attending art school in 1905?

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Where did O'Keeffe move to study art in 1907?

New York.

Who did O'Keeffe learn painting with in New York?

William Merritt Chase.

Who was William Merritt Chase in the context of art history?

One of the most important artists of the late nineteenth century.

Who was a more crucial influence on O'Keeffe than Chase?

Arthur Wesley Dow.

What were Dow's professions?

Art teacher and theorist.

What was the title of Dow's book, and what year was it published?

Composition, 1899.

From where did Dow's book derive its aesthetic principles?

East Asian, particularly Japanese, art.

What did Dow's philosophy stress in relation to the arts?

Connections across the arts.

What idea did Dow advance, using music as an example?

Music as a nonrepresentational art that could serve as a model for abstract painting.

Which Russian educator and Expressionist painter also influenced O'Keeffe's artistic philosophy?

Vasily Kandinsky.

What was the title of Kandinsky's book, and in what years was it published in German and English?

On the Spiritual in Art (1912 in German; translated in 1914).

What type of abstraction did much of O'Keeffe's work use, contrasting with Demuth's approach?

Biomorphic abstraction.

From where does biomorphic abstraction take its forms?

The natural world, often incorporating references to the human body, plants, trees, water, or other landscape elements.

What did O'Keeffe's more radical experimentations, like Blue and Green Music (1918), use as their inspiration instead of recognizable imagery?

Music or sound.

Which nineteenth-century painters influenced this approach of O'Keeffe?

James Abbott McNeill Whistler.

How did Whistler think of his works in terms of color?

"Harmonies" and "symphonies."

What musical metaphor did Kandinsky use for his early abstract works?

"Compositions" and "improvisations."

What idea did Kandinsky include in On the Spiritual in Art regarding the similarity between art and music?

That paintings could be "new symphonic construction[s]" using brushstrokes instead of musical notation.

Describe the characteristics of Kandinsky's works in terms of brushwork and forms.

Swirling and gestural brushwork, ovoid, bulbous, and elongated forms, and echoes of floral or landscape elements.

What term describes these characteristics of Kandinsky's work?

Biomorphic abstraction.

Which other member of the Stieglitz circle was significantly influenced by Kandinsky and used biomorphic abstraction to echo jazz music?

Arthur G. Dove.

Name a work by Arthur G. Dove that exemplifies this influence.

George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue, Part I (1927).

Where did O'Keeffe visit several exhibitions of European modernism in the early 1910s?

Stieglitz's 291 gallery.

In what year did Stieglitz present O'Keeffe's work in her first solo show?

1917.

How long did Stieglitz sponsor O'Keeffe exhibitions?

Over the next twenty-five years.

What did O'Keeffe often serve as for Stieglitz?

A model for his photographic portraits.

What did Stieglitz's portraits of O'Keeffe often feature?

Close-ups of her face and hands, as well as her naked torso.

In what year did O'Keeffe and Stieglitz marry?

1924.

Despite a complicated romantic relationship, how did Stieglitz continue to support O'Keeffe?

He remained supportive of her career for the rest of his life.

How did Stieglitz try to influence O'Keeffe's artistic choices?

By trying to control the imagery she chose, positioning her as a representative of an idealized "feminine voice" and discouraging subjects that might compromise that ideal.

What type of imagery is O'Keeffe best known for in her paintings?

Closely cropped, colorful paintings of floral imagery.

What other important bodies of work did O'Keeffe create?

Experimentations with geometric abstraction in New York City images (e.g., skyscrapers) and representations of the desert landscape, animal skulls, and pilgrimage crosses of New Mexico.

Name a New York City image by O'Keeffe that featured skyscrapers and geometric abstraction.

The Shelton with Sunspots, N.Y. (1926).

When did O'Keeffe make her first trip to New Mexico?

In the later part of the 1920s.

What did O'Keeffe begin painting in New Mexico?

Representations of the desert landscape, animal skulls, and pilgrimage crosses.

After Stieglitz passed away, where did O'Keeffe move in 1949?

Abiquiu, New Mexico.

Until what year did O'Keeffe live and work in Abiquiu?

Until her death in 1986.

What was O'Keeffe's age when she died?

Ninety-eight.

Was O'Keeffe the first white artist to find inspiration in the American Southwest?

No.

Name two painters who traveled through the Southwest in 1898 and were inspired by it.

Ernest Blumenschein and Bert Geer Phillips.