author
Charles Demuth
1883–1935
An American modernist painter best known for helping shape Precisionism, he brought sharp geometry and a distinctly American sense of place to his art. His work ranges from luminous watercolors and florals to bold, machine-age city scenes that still feel fresh today.
1 Audiobook
The Glebe 1913/12 (Vol. 1, No. 3): The Azure Adder
by Charles Demuth
About the author
Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1883, Charles Demuth studied at the Drexel Institute and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, where he worked with teachers including Thomas Anshutz and William Merritt Chase. He also spent time in Paris, absorbing modern European ideas while developing a style that remained very much his own.
Demuth became one of the key figures in American modernism and is especially associated with Precisionism, a style marked by crisp lines, simplified forms, and attention to modern architecture and industry. Although he is often remembered for paintings such as I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, he was also admired for delicate watercolors, still lifes, and floral subjects.
He spent much of his life in Lancaster and turned familiar local buildings and streets into striking modern compositions. Demuth died there in 1935, but his art continues to stand out for its mix of elegance, experiment, and clear-eyed observation.