COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1977.43
amicoid
CMA_.1977.43
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
2001
aly
2001
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Paintings
oty
Paintings
Object Type
false
Creator Name:
Sheeler, Charles
crn
Sheeler, Charles
Creator Name
false
Creator Nationality:
North American; American
crc
North American; American
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Role:
artist
crr
artist
Creator Role
false
Creator Dates/Places:
1883 - 1965
cdt
1883 - 1965
Creator Dates/Places
false
Biography:
Charles Sheeler American, 1883-1965Philadelphia-born Charles Sheeler was a well-known precisionist painter and photographer. After studying at the School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia (1900-3), he spent the next three years as a student of painter William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Around 1910 he took up photography as a way to support himself. Sheeler began as an architectural photographer, documenting buildings for Philadelphia architects, but was soon taking pictures of paintings and other works of art. He continued to paint (in 1913 a group of his works were exhibited in the famous Armory Show in New York) and to photograph, often using his photographs as the basis for paintings. In 1917 his photographs were included in a three-person show along with Paul Strand and Morton Schamberg at Marius de Zayas's Modern Gallery in New York. Two years later Sheeler moved to New York and in 1920 collaborated with Paul Strand on the avant-garde film Manhatta (originally titled New York the Magnificent). In 1923 he began working as a staff photographer for Condé Nast publications. Four years later he received his most important commercial commission when Ford Motor Company hired him to photograph its River Rouge plant. A powerful series of images celebrating American industry resulted and were widely published. They also served as an inspiration for a number of his paintings. In 1939 a small group of Sheeler's photographs were included in a retrospective of his work organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Over the next decade he worked as staff photographer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and focused primarily on painting in his own work, especially during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959, after suffering a stroke, Sheeler stopped painting and photographing; he died six years later from a second stroke. M.M.
crb
Charles Sheeler American, 1883-1965Philadelphia-born Charles Sheeler was a well-known precisionist painter and photographer. After studying at the School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia (1900-3), he spent the next three years as a student of painter William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Around 1910 he took up photography as a way to support himself. Sheeler began as an architectural photographer, documenting buildings for Philadelphia architects, but was soon taking pictures of paintings and other works of art. He continued to paint (in 1913 a group of his works were exhibited in the famous Armory Show in New York) and to photograph, often using his photographs as the basis for paintings. In 1917 his photographs were included in a three-person show along with Paul Strand and Morton Schamberg at Marius de Zayas's Modern Gallery in New York. Two years later Sheeler moved to New York and in 1920 collaborated with Paul Strand on the avant-garde film Manhatta (originally titled New York the Magnificent). In 1923 he began working as a staff photographer for Condé Nast publications. Four years later he received his most important commercial commission when Ford Motor Company hired him to photograph its River Rouge plant. A powerful series of images celebrating American industry resulted and were widely published. They also served as an inspiration for a number of his paintings. In 1939 a small group of Sheeler's photographs were included in a retrospective of his work organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Over the next decade he worked as staff photographer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and focused primarily on painting in his own work, especially during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959, after suffering a stroke, Sheeler stopped painting and photographing; he died six years later from a second stroke. M.M.
Biography
false
Gender:
M
cgn
M
Gender
false
Creator Birth Place:
Philadelphia, PA
cbp
Philadelphia, PA
Creator Birth Place
false
Creator Death Place:
Dobbs Ferry, New York
cdp
Dobbs Ferry, New York
Creator Death Place
false
Creator Name-CRT:
Charles Sheeler
crt
Charles Sheeler
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
Church Street El
otn
Church Street El
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
1920
oct
1920
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
1920
ocs
1920
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
1920
oce
1920
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
oil on canvas
omd
oil on canvas
Materials and Techniques
false
Dimensions:
Framed: 60cm x 67.5cm x 6cm, Unframed: 41cm x 48.5cm
met
Framed: 60cm x 67.5cm x 6cm, Unframed: 41cm x 48.5cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1977.43
ooa
1977.43
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
ooc
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Credit Line
false
Inscriptions:
Signed lower right: "Sheeler 1920"
oin
Signed lower right: "Sheeler 1920"
Inscriptions
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Provenance:
Earle Horter, Philadelphia (1946); (R. Schoelkopf, New York)
opo
Earle Horter, Philadelphia (1946); (R. Schoelkopf, New York)
Provenance
false
Context:
Charles Sheeler strove for the clarity of simple geometric relationships, finding his shapes in the patterns of the modern city. He simplified forms and eliminated texture to focus attention on the rhythmic interplay of colors and patterns of light and dark. In Church Street El he placed the viewer at the top of the Empire Building in New York City, looking down at the office of Trinity Church, in the center, and an elevated train at the right. The train's speed is suggested by the energetic, upward movement of the tracks. The painting was based on an image from the film Manahatta (1920), which Sheeler made with the photographer Paul Strand.Both a photographer and a painter, Charles Sheeler was a key figure in a trend known as Precisionism, which developed in America between World War I and World War II. Never a coherent movement, Precisionism was a point of intersection between European modernism and traditional American realism. Along with Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Preston Dickinson, and others, Sheeler revealed in his work a pristine, unpopulated approach to the American scene, executed in styles ranging from photographic realism to pure abstraction.
cxd
Charles Sheeler strove for the clarity of simple geometric relationships, finding his shapes in the patterns of the modern city. He simplified forms and eliminated texture to focus attention on the rhythmic interplay of colors and patterns of light and dark. In Church Street El he placed the viewer at the top of the Empire Building in New York City, looking down at the office of Trinity Church, in the center, and an elevated train at the right. The train's speed is suggested by the energetic, upward movement of the tracks. The painting was based on an image from the film Manahatta (1920), which Sheeler made with the photographer Paul Strand.Both a photographer and a painter, Charles Sheeler was a key figure in a trend known as Precisionism, which developed in America between World War I and World War II. Never a coherent movement, Precisionism was a point of intersection between European modernism and traditional American realism. Along with Charles Demuth, Georgia O'Keeffe, Preston Dickinson, and others, Sheeler revealed in his work a pristine, unpopulated approach to the American scene, executed in styles ranging from photographic realism to pure abstraction.
Context
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1977.43.tif
ril
CMA_.1977.43.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false