Charles Demuth
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Charles Demuth (November 9, 1883 - October 23, 1935) was an American precisionist painter.
Demuth was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and studied at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. While he was a student there he met William Carlos Williams at his boarding house. They became fast friends for the rest of their lives.
He later studied at Académie Colarossi and Académie Julian in Paris, where he became a part of the avant garde art scene. The Parisian artistic community was accepting of Demuth's homosexuality.
While he was in Paris he met Marsden Hartley by walking up to a table of American artists and asking if he could join them. He had a great sense of humor, rich in double entendres and they asked him to be a regular member of their group. Through Hartley he met Alfred Stieglitz and became a member of the Stieglitz group. In 1926, he had a one-man show at a New York gallery run by his friend Alfred Stieglitz.
Demuth suffered either an injury when he was four years old or may have had polio or tuberculosis of the hip that left him with a marked limp and required him to use a cane. He later developed diabetes and was one of the first people in the United States to receive insulin. He spent most of his life in frail health, and he died in Lancaster at age 51 of complications from diabetes.
His most famous painting, The Figure 5 in Gold, was inspired by William Carlos Williams's poem The Great Figure. This is one of his posters to honor other artists including one for Gertrude Stein and one for Georgia O'Keeffe.