Charles Demuth is one of the most important American painters of the first half of the 20th century. Known as a precisionist painter, he is highly regarded for his geometric depictions of machines and industrial equipment.

Charles Demuth Biography

• Born November 8, 1883 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• First solo exhibition at Alfred Steiglitz's gallery in 1915
• Masterpieces of Precisionism in the 1920s
• Died of lung cancer in Lancaster on October 23, 1935 (aged 51)

Representative works

• My Egypt (1927)
• The Water Tank (1928)
• Plumbot Monotype (Aucassin and Nicolette) (1921)
• Fellow Citizens, Port Richmond (1930)

Inspired by a group of artists in New York, Demuth established a geometric, flat style of painting. In his representative work, My Egypt, he attempts to fuse machinery and art, such as likening a factory chimney to an ancient Egyptian obelisk.

Demuth's modern industrial landscape paintings, composed of clear lines and combinations of surfaces, were revolutionary for their time. Demuth, who was homosexual, also left behind paintings of male nudes.

As a central figure in Precisionism, he left a significant mark on 20th century American painting by transforming the increasingly mechanized urban landscape into art.