Cactus
Charles Sheeler, American, 1883 - 1965
Date:
1931Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
45 1/8 × 30 1/16 inches (114.6 × 76.4 cm)Copyright:
Research inconclusive. Copyright may apply.Curatorial Department:
American ArtObject Location:
1950-134-186Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
1931Medium:
Oil on canvasDimensions:
45 1/8 × 30 1/16 inches (114.6 × 76.4 cm)Copyright:
Research inconclusive. Copyright may apply.Curatorial Department:
American ArtObject Location:
Currently not on view
Accession Number:1950-134-186Credit Line:
The Louise and Walter Arensberg Collection, 1950
Label:
Beginning in the 1920s, Charles Sheeler played a central role in the development of Precisionism, a modernist movement characterized by a crisp, sharply defined style that united the desire for a distinctly American art with the lessons of the Parisian avant-garde. As was often the case, Sheeler based this painting on one of his own photographs, rendering the plant, pedestal, and lamps, as well as the variations in light and shadow, with photographic exactitude. His early sympathy with Cubism remains apparent: he transformed this seemingly straightforward document of his working life into a complex interplay of forms in a shallow, ambiguous space. Sheeler's severe and analytic approach produced a highly enigmatic image, however, as the denuded cactus, stripped of its spikes, sits forlornly beneath an unplugged light.
Beginning in the 1920s, Charles Sheeler played a central role in the development of Precisionism, a modernist movement characterized by a crisp, sharply defined style that united the desire for a distinctly American art with the lessons of the Parisian avant-garde. As was often the case, Sheeler based this painting on one of his own photographs, rendering the plant, pedestal, and lamps, as well as the variations in light and shadow, with photographic exactitude. His early sympathy with Cubism remains apparent: he transformed this seemingly straightforward document of his working life into a complex interplay of forms in a shallow, ambiguous space. Sheeler's severe and analytic approach produced a highly enigmatic image, however, as the denuded cactus, stripped of its spikes, sits forlornly beneath an unplugged light.