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Charles
Demuth was one of the most stylistically innovative
watercolor artists of the 20th century. Charles
Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
the only and indulged child of successful business
people--so financially secure that Demuth never
had to work for a living, although he was never
wealthy. Demuth had a sense of self-certainty
and stability permeated Charles Demuth's family
environment. At age four or five, Demuth suffered
from Perthes, a disease that left him with one
short leg due to deformation of the hip joint.
Demuth's watercolors range from translucent
landscape abstractions to decorative florals,
stylized still lifes, miniature narrative scenes,
lively circus and vaudeville arabesques, and
unashamedly explicit homoerotic idylls. Demuth
often accented or shaped areas (such as the
umber cushions and lampshade) by blotting them.
Recently published works on Demuth readily acknowledge
his homosexuality. His sexual orientation is,
in fact, impossible to ignore. Along with his
landmark architectural studies and floral watercolors,
there exists a body of work that is unquestionably
homoerotic. Art scholars and historians now
present his colorful life in all its hues, and
publish the Provincetown sailors along with
the Lancaster grain mills.
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