Oil Paint
Oil paint is a slow-drying art medium made with pigment and a drying-oil binder that allows extended working time, smooth blending, and layered application.
Painter
Charles Demuth
Charles Demuth was an American Precisionist painter known for precise industrial architecture, bold geometric compositions, and delicate floral watercolors.
Charles Demuth quick facts
Demuth developed Precisionist city and industry paintings in oil while continuing his earlier specialty of fluid watercolor still lifes and figure scenes.
| Born | 1883 · Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States |
|---|---|
| Died | 1935 · Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Movements | Precisionism; American Modernism |
| Paint types | Oil Paint · Watercolor Paint |
| Painting surfaces | Painting Board · Paper |
| Painting methods | Crisp geometric planes, carefully controlled oil surfaces, and watercolors built through transparent and opaque washes over graphite outlines |
| Common subjects | Grain elevators, factories, streets of Lancaster, flowers, theatrical figures, and symbolic letter portraits |
| Notable works | My Egypt · I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold · Buildings, Lancaster · Tulips |
| Other materials | Fabricated chalk and graphite pencil combined with oil in My Egypt (1927) |
Sources: Whitney: Charles Demuth, Whitney: My Egypt (oil on composition board), The Met: Tulips (watercolor and graphite on paper), Demuth Museum: permanent collection, Terra Foundation: Welcome to Our City.
Paint types used
Demuth made sharply outlined architectural paintings in oil, while watercolor washes and exposed graphite informed his flowers and figure studies.
Watercolor Paint
Watercolor paint is a water-based art medium made with pigment and a water-soluble binder, typically applied in transparent washes on absorbent paper.
Surface types used
Demuth used composition board for industrial oils such as My Egypt, and paper for watercolor studies with transparent and opaque washes.
Painting Board
Painting board is a rigid artist support made from hardboard, wood, or another stable panel, sold either raw or prepared with a medium-specific ground.
Paper
Paper is an absorbent sheet material made from pressed fibers, with weight, sizing, and surface texture controlling moisture tolerance and paint behavior.
Painters similar to Charles Demuth
Sheeler likewise painted precise American factories, while O'Keeffe shared Demuth's circle and a modernist interest in floral subjects.
Charles Sheeler
Charles Sheeler was an American Precisionist painter known for sharply defined factories, industrial machinery, interiors, and architectural forms.
Georgia O'Keeffe
Georgia O'Keeffe was an American modernist known for close-up flowers, New Mexico landscapes, bones, architecture, and simplified natural forms.