Roofs and Steeple
Charles Demuth
American Art
After encountering French Cubism in Paris, Charles Demuth produced a large body of still-life and architectural watercolors based in a Cubist-inspired faceting of forms. Particularly drawn to the small-town American architecture of his native Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he continued to spend a significant amount of time, Demuth transposed the architectural volumes into two-dimensional designs of selected planes set off by precisely ruled lines. Within these compositions, the tones and density of his washes suggest spatial depth while areas of unpainted paper reassert the two-dimensional surface.
MEDIUM
Watercolor and graphite on textured wove paper
DATES
1921
DIMENSIONS
14 3/8 x 10 7/16 in. (36.5 x 26.5 cm)
Frame: 24 x 18 x 1 1/2 in. (61 x 45.7 x 3.8 cm) (show scale)
MARKINGS
Watermark in lower right, reads correctly from recto: 'A.L.' in circular design
SIGNATURE
Signed lower left: 'C. Demuth 1921.'
INSCRIPTIONS
Several graphite notations on verso: '1025', '4" white', '3522', '212'
COLLECTIONS
American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
50.159
CREDIT LINE
Dick S. Ramsay Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Charles Demuth (American, 1883â1935). Roofs and Steeple, 1921. Watercolor and graphite on textured wove paper, 14 3/8 x 10 7/16 in. (36.5 x 26.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Dick S. Ramsay Fund, 50.159 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 50.159_PS2.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 50.159_PS2.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2005
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
No known copyright restrictions
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