Charles Demuth, an American watercolor painter
Charles Demuth has been described by author Andrew Carnduff Ritchie as "Elegant, witty, frivolous, dandified, shy, kind, gentle, amusing..." Coming from rather wealthy circumstances and suffering a delicate health and lameness, Charles Demuth grew up with a quiet interest in the arts. After completing studies at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1910 he went on to study painting at several art academys in Paris. Demuth experimented with the artistic influences of the day including cubism and expressionism. His most memorable personal style is at once intimate and calculating with subtle shadings of color and form as in the watercolor Flowers, Cyclamen 1920. Demuth used structured washes with controlled bleeds and blotting to intensify the color depth and texture while masterfully conserving the white of the paper. Other phases of his work reflect influences of the art of his contemporaries, Charles Sheeler, Reginald Marsh, Cezanne, and John Marin. — Watercolor Masters: Charles Demuth © 2010 Greg Conley —
