Charles Sheeler (July 16, 1883 – May 7, 1965)

                                                                                          

American Landscape

1930

The Precisionism of Sheeler often, as can be seen in some of these pieces, closely approached Photorealism. But that quality in Sheeler's work was not so much a precursor to Photorealism, as one of the natural evolutions of Futurism, which simply had set aside some of the more Cubist elements of that movement, while it still kept close to the love of angular subjects. Sheeler was certainly a very interesting artist. 

Church Street

1920

Windows

1952

Classic Landscape

1931

Suspended Power

1939

View of New York

1931

River Rouge Plant

1932

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