Charles Demuth (November 8, 1883 - October 23, 1935)

                                                                                            

The Figure 5 in Gold

1928 

The Great Figure

by William Carlos Williams

Among the rain

and lights

I saw the figure 5 

in gold

on a red

firetruck

moving 

tense

unheeded

to gong clangs

siren howls

and wheels rumbling

through the dark city.

Charles Demuth was one of the major painters in the Precisionist movement or, an alternate name that rather aptly describes the style, Cubist Realism. Perhaps the most famous piece in the movement, and the nearest to abstraction the movement came, is the The Figure 5 in Gold, which was inspired by that famous poem, posted above, by WCW, a friend of Demuth. Also, Demuth is renowned for his Expressionist watercolors, which are extremely well stylized, and are often preferred to his more famous Precisionist paintings.

Man and Woman, Provincetown

1934

Modern Conveniences

1921

Red-Roofed Houses

1917

In Vaudeville: The Green Dancer

1916

My Egypt

1927