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Source Description
Still-life was one of Charles Demuth's favorite genres, and he created works on this theme throughout his career. This drawing of a blooming amaryllis was completed while the artist was convalescing with diabetes in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Because of his physical weakness, he was limited to working in watercolor, a less demanding medium than painting, and to subjects that he could easily observe, such as flowers. Demuth drew the amaryllis's form in graphite and then brushed on watercolor precisely, using a blotter to develop the pebbly texture seen throughout.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
172894
label
Amaryllis
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
172894
contentType
drawing
title
Amaryllis
description
Still-life was one of Charles Demuth's favorite genres, and he created works on this theme throughout his career. This drawing of a blooming amaryllis was completed while the artist was convalescing with diabetes in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Because of his physical weakness, he was limited to working in watercolor, a less demanding medium than painting, and to subjects that he could easily observe, such as flowers. Demuth drew the amaryllis's form in graphite and then brushed on watercolor precisely, using a blotter to develop the pebbly texture seen throughout.
date
c. 1923
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q117230194
creators
4010
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 45.8 x 30.4 cm (18 1/16 x 11 15/16 in.)
cul
America
accession
1923.249
Source extras
tec
watercolor over graphite
tombstone
Amaryllis, c. 1923. Charles Demuth (American, 1883–1935). Watercolor over graphite; sheet: 45.8 x 30.4 cm (18 1/16 x 11 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection, 1923.2490
supportMaterials
description
cream(3) wove paper
collection
DR - American 20th Century
formerAccessionNumbers
2445.1923
2490.1923
didYouKnow
This watercolor was purchased by the museum during its first exhibition, at Daniel Gallery in New York, and was one of the first works by Charles Demuth to enter a public museum collection.
citations
citation
Haskell, Barbara. <em>Charles Demuth</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1987.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 79
citation
Gerdts, William H. <em>American Still-Life Painting, 1913-1967</em>. Exh. Cat. New York: American Federation of Arts, 1967.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 6
citation
McBride, Henry. <em>Charles Demuth Memorial Exhibition. </em>Exh. Cat. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1937
page_number
Mentioned: no. 63
citation
Francis, Henry. "Museum Water Colors and the Thirteenth Exhibition of Water Colors and Pastels." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art </em>24, no. 3 (March 1937): 39-41
page_number
Mentioned: p. 40
citation
<em>Charles Demuth: Exhibition of Water Colors and Oil Paintings</em>. Exh. Cat. Washington, D.C.: Phillips Memorial Gallery, 1942.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 21
citation
Ritchie, Andrew Carnduff. <em>Charles Demuth. </em>Exh. Cat. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1950.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 78, 92, no. 123; Reproduced: p. 78
citation
Farnham, Emily. "Charles Demuth: His Life, Psychology and Works." Ph.D. diss. Ohio State University, 1959.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 583, no. 435; Reproduced: p. 862
citation
<em>Charles Demuth of Lancaster</em>. Exh. Cat. Harrisburg, PA: William Penn Memorial Museum, 1966.
page_number
Mentioned: no. 94
citation
Farnham, Emily. <em>Charles Demuth: Behind a Laughing Mask</em>. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1971.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 149
citation
Gedhard, David and Phyllis Plous. <em>Charles Demuth: The Mechanical Encrusted on the Living</em>. Exh. Cat. Santa Barbara, CA: Art Galleries, University of California, 1971.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 83, no. 85
citation
Adams, Celeste, Rita Myers, Adele Z. Silver. <em>An Introduction to American Art in the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1972.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 18; Reproduced: p. 19
citation
Anderson, Dennis R. <em>American Flower Painting</em>. New York: Watson-Guptill, 1980.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 64; Reproduced: p. 65
citation
DeGrazia, Diane, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Exh. Cat. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 12, pp. 242-243, 297; Reproduced: p. 243
creditline
Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection
updatedAt
2026-05-29 08:50:39.473000
sourceId
172894
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - American 20th Century
med
watercolor over graphite
creatorTags
LGBTQ+ (after 1900)
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a15ac0d30f0c69b6