Charles Demuth 1883 - 1935

Robert E. Locher, New York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 1935 (acquired directly from the artist)
Henry P. McIlhenny, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
E.V. Thaw, New York
Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York
Private collection, Grosse Pointe, Michigan
James Maroney, Inc., New York
Kennedy Galleries, New York (acquired from the above, 1988)
Private collection, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Richard York Gallery, New York
Gilbert A. and Anne B. Harrison, 1993 (acquired from the above)
By descent in the family to the present owner (their son)

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, William Penn Memorial Museum - The Pennsylvania Historical Museum Committee, Charles Demuth of Lancaster, September-November 1966, no. 132
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art (and traveling), Charles Demuth, October 1987-October 1988
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Museum of Art (on loan)

Richard C. Weyand, Scrapbooks, no. W211
Emily Farnham, Charles Demuth: His Life, Psychology and Works (Ph.D. dissertation, Ohio State University), 1959, vol. II, no. 537, p. 626
Alvord L. Eiseman, A Study of the Development of an Artist: Charles Demuth (Ph. D. dissertation, New York University), 1976, vol. II, pp. 420-422, illustrated (as Squash and Red Apple or Squash)
James Maroney, Inc. A Small Group of Especially Fine American Works on Paper, New York, 1984, illustrated in color

Very good condition, extremely fresh Unframed: affixed to the mat in two places along the top edge, some very faint matburn at edges.
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Executed in 1929, Squashes #2 typifies Charles Demuth's exceptional control of the watercolor medium and delicate handling of translucent color washes. His lightness of touch combined with voluptuous three-dimensional forms evolved from Cézannesque antecedents. In the present watercolor, Demuth incorporates both precisionist control and cubist geometry in the faceted forms of the squashes and apple, where thin layers of color, rather than line, create the interlocking surfaces. Demuth imparts complexity to the essentially simple composition by complementing the cooler neutral tones and patterns of the background and bowl with the serene warm colors of the squashes and apple.

Demuth was a pioneer of American modernism and connected to Alfred Stieglitz's group in New York, but was also strongly tied to his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His struggle with diabetes regularly confined the artist to his home, particularly during the last decade of his life, despite beginning treatment with newly discovered insulin. According to Alvord Eiseman, "it was only in Lancaster, where his mother could take care of him, that Demuth was able to work. She saw to it that her son took the proper medication and ate the prescribed kind of food. When Demuth was away from home, he paid little or no attention to these vital matters of health" (Charles Demuth, 1982, p. 22). Oil painting was often too physically demanding and he instead focused his efforts on watercolor, turning his attention in 1924 to his ambitious compositions of large-scaled, majestic fruit and vegetables still lifes. Painting from his small studio in his mother's house on East King Street, he found his subjects in her gardens and among the fresh produce that she purchased for him at the local farmer's markets.