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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.

Page data

Page
1
Source index
0
Type
photo
Media ID
a15ac0d30f0c69b6
Size
unknown

Document data

ID
172894
Core
obj
Type
drawing
DTO data
{
    "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",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1923.2490",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
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        4010
    ],
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    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.2490/1923.2490_web.jpg",
    "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"
}

Context sent to Scholar

Document identity
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    "localId": "172894",
    "label": "Amaryllis",
    "core": "obj",
    "dtoType": "drawing"
}
Document 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",
    "citation": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1923.2490",
    "rights": "CC0",
    "rightsUri": "CC0",
    "language": "en",
    "wikidata": [
        "Q117230194"
    ],
    "creators": [
        4010
    ],
    "genreSpecific": [
        "Drawing"
    ],
    "iiifBase": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.2490/1923.2490_web.jpg",
    "thumbnailUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.2490/1923.2490_web.jpg",
    "largeImageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.2490/1923.2490_web.jpg",
    "imageCount": 1,
    "source": "import",
    "dimensionsRaw": "Sheet: 45.8 x 30.4 cm (18 1/16 x 11 15/16 in.)",
    "cul": [
        "America"
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}
Document 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",
            "url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25137832"
        },
        {
            "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"
        }
    ],
    "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1923.2490",
    "creditline": "Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection",
    "updatedAt": "2026-05-29 08:50:39.473000",
    "imageUrl": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1923.2490/1923.2490_print.jpg",
    "sourceId": 172894,
    "dept": "Drawings",
    "coll": "DR - American 20th Century",
    "med": "watercolor over graphite",
    "creatorTags": [
        "LGBTQ+ (after 1900)",
        "male"
    ],
    "thumbnail_url": null,
    "image_url": null
}
Page context
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