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part 4
North American Art

North American Art
Before the Second World War

1900 to 1945

(part 3 of 4)

To get a larger version, click on the thumbnail version of a picture.

George Ault

born: Cleveland, Ohio; 1891
died: Woodstock, NY; 30 December 1948

George Ault spent most of his childhood in London, where his father manufactured inks. He leared art at the Slade School of Art and St. John's Wood School of Art, London, returning to the United States in 1911. After his return, Ault developed his own modern style which uses flat shapes, geometric patterns, and odd perspective effects. Ault favored disquieting colors like those used in Art Deco decor. Although Ault is often grouped with Precisionists Ralston Crawford and Charles Sheeler, he did not idealize modern life as they generally did. Rather, his urban landscapes, are filled with a sense of distress.

By the mid-1920s, personal problems began to interfere with Ault's artistic progress. Whatever the exact cause, during the 1920s, Ault grew neurotic and reclusive. He developed a severe case of alcoholism, almost blinding himself drinking poisonous bathtub gin. His behavior became so strange that his artist and dealer friends began to avoid him.

In 1937, hoping to create a new life and escape his alcoholism, Ault moved to Woodstock, New York. There he lived in a series of rented buildings, depending for income mainly on his wife, who worked for small town newspapers in the region. In this period Ault created his most haunting and powerful works. Though these were his finest works, he had difficulty selling his paintings and gradually slipped into ever greater emotional despair. Ault committed suicide in Woodstock at the age of fifty-seven.

Mabel Alvarez

born: Oahu, Hawaii; 28 November 1891
died: Los Angeles, CA, US; 13 March 1985

Three more Alvarez pictures.

  Grant Wood

born: Anamosa, Iowa; 13 February 1892
died: Iowa City, Iowa; 12 February 1942

In making these paintings, as you may have guessed, I had in mind something which I hope to convey to a fairly wide audience in America—the picture of a country rich in the arts of peace; a homely lovable nation, infinitely worth any sacrifice necessary to its preservation.
—Grant Wood

Three more Grant Wood pictures including American Gothic.

Louis Lozowick

born: Russia; 1892
died: US; 1973

Seven more Lozowick pictures.

  Charles Ephraim Burchfield

born: Ashtabula Harbor, Ohio, US; 9 April 1893
died: Gardenville, NY; 10 January 1967

  Stuart Davis

born: Philadelphia, Penn., US; 7 December 1894
died: New York, NY, US; 24 June 1964

A dozen more Davis pictures.

  Norman Rockwell

born: 1894
died: 1978

Sixteen more Rockwell pictures.

David Alfaro Siqueiros

born: Chihuahua, Mexico; 29 December 1896
died: Cuernavaca, Mexico; 6 January 1974

  John Seuart Curry

born: Dunavant, Kansas; 14 November 1897
died: Madison, Wisconsin; 29 August 1946

Curry completed several murals. The one for the state capitol building in Topeka, Kansas, has as its subject matter the turbulent events associated with the abolitionist John Brown, see picture below.

Nine more Curry pictures.

Reginald Marsh

born: Paris, France; 14 March 1898
died: Bennington, VT, US; 3 July 1954

Elsie Driggs

born: 1898
died: 1992

  Ben Shahn

born: Kaunas, Russia [now Lithuania]; 12 September 1898
died: New York, NY, US; 14 March 1969

Nine more Shahn pictures.

Charles Wheeler Locke

born: 1899
died: 1983

Moses Soyer

born: Russia; 1899
died: US; 1974

Raphael Soyer

born: Russia; 1899
died: US; 1987

Isaac Soyer

born: Russia; 1902
died: US; 1981

Visit part 4 of the Gallery
of pre World War II North American Art.

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North American Art