Demuth completed eight symbolic portraits between 1924 and 1929 as tributes to modern American artists, writers, and performers. Though not a physical likeness, Demuth created this portrait of his friend, the poet and physician William Carlos Williams, using imagery from Williams’s poem The Great Figure, which evokes the sights and sounds of a fire engine speeding down the street. The intersecting lines, repeated "5," round forms of the numbers, lights, street lamp, and blaring sirens of the red fire engine together infuse the painting with a vibrant, urban energy. Demuth derived the title from the poem, which reads:
Among the rain and lights I saw the figure 5 in gold on a red firetruck moving tense unheeded to gong clangs siren howls and wheels rumbling through the dark city
Medium:Oil, graphite, ink, and gold leaf on paperboard (Upson board)
Dimensions:35 1/2 × 30 in. (90.2 × 76.2 cm)
Classifications:Paintings, Drawings
Credit Line:Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949
Object Number:49.59.1
Inscription: Signed (lower left): C.D.; inscribed (lower center): W. C. W.; signed, dated, and inscribed (verso): I saw the Figure 5 in Gold/ W. Carlos W/ C Demuth '28
the artist (1928–d. 1935; his bequest to O'Keeffe); Georgia O'Keeffe, New York (1935–48; her gift as part of the Alfred Stieglitz Collection to MMA)
Intimate Gallery, New York. "Charles Demuth: Five Paintings," April 29–May 18, 1929, brochure (as "I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold – William Carlos Williams," 1927).
New York. Demotte, Inc. "Twenty Modern American Pictures Selected by Samuel M. Kootz," March 16–April 11, 1931, no. 3 (dated 1931).
New York. An American Place. "Charles Demuth: Retrospective Exhibition Including Latest Work–Watercolors–Drawings–Oil Paintings," April 14–May 11, 1931, no catalogue.
New York. An American Place. "Group exhibition: John Marin, Georgia O'Keeffe, Arthur Dove, Charles Demuth, and Marsden Hartley," May 16–June 14, 1932, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Abstract Painting in America," February 12–March 22, 1935, no. 30 (lent by the artist).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Charles Demuth Memorial Exhibition," December 15, 1937–January 16, 1938, no. 92 (lent by Miss Georgia O'Keeffe).
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "This is Our City: An Exhibition of Paintings, Watercolors, Drawings, Prints, Presented for the Greater New York Fund," March 11–April 13, 1941, no. 18 (lent by Miss Georgia O'Keeffe).
Philadelphia Museum of Art. "History of an American, Alfred Stieglitz: '291' and After, Selections from the Stieglitz Collection," July 1–November 1, 1944, no. 297.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Alfred Stieglitz Exhibition: His Collection," June 10–August 31, 1947, no catalogue (checklist no. 16).
Art Institute of Chicago. "Alfred Stieglitz: His Photographs and His Collection," February 2–29, 1948, no catalogue.
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Charles Demuth," March 7–June 11, 1950, no. 144.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "20th Century Painters: A Special Exhibition of Oils, Water Colors and Drawings Selected from the Collections of American Art in the Metropolitan Museum," June 16–October 29, 1950, unnum. brochure (p. 5).
New York. Wildenstein. "A Special Exhibition of Paintings by American and French Modern Masters," May 4–28, 1955, brochure no. 8.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Junior Museum. "How to Look at Paintings," September 17, 1958–June 26, 1960, not in brochure.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Three Centuries of American Painting," April 9–October 17, 1965, unnum. checklist.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Paintings, Drawings and Watercolors from the Museum's Collections," October 1–December 7, 1969, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 14, 1970–June 1, 1971, no. 393.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Representations of America," December 15, 1977–February 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Leningrad. State Hermitage Museum. "Representations of America," March 15–May 15, 1978, no catalogue.
Minsk, Belarus. Palace of Art. "Representations of America," June 15–August 15, 1978, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "William Carlos Williams and the American Scene, 1920–1940," December 12, 1978–February 4, 1979, unnumbered cat. (pl. 4).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Selection One: Twentieth-Century Art," February 1–April 30, 1985, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "Charles Demuth," October 15, 1987–January 17, 1988, unnumbered cat. (pl. 89; as "The Figure 5 in Gold").
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "14 Americans," July 16, 1990–January 2, 1991, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Painting: 1905–1950," April 19–October 7, 1991, no catalogue.
Berlin. Martin-Gropius-Bau. "Amerikanische Kunst im 20. Jahrhundert: Malerei und Plastik; 1913–1993," May 8–July 25, 1993, no. 45.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "American Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913–1993," September 16–December 12, 1993, no. 45.
New Haven. Yale University Art Gallery. "Charles Demuth Poster Portraits: 1923–1929," September 17, 1994–January 8, 1995, unnumbered cat. (fig. 68).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "As They Were: 1900–1929," April 9–September 8, 1996, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900–2000. Part 1: 1900–1950," April 23–August 22, 1999, unnumbered cat. (fig. 318).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe," October 13, 2011–January 2, 2012, no. 60.
Oxford, England. Ashmolean Museum. "America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper," March 23–July 22, 2018, no. 26.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Making The Met, 1870–2020," August 29, 2020–January 3, 2021, unnumbered cat. (fig. 181).
Charles Demuth. Letter to Agnes Boulton O'Neill. [ca. July 1926] [published in Ref. Kellner 2000, p. 81].
Charles Demuth. Letters to Alfred Stieglitz. December 1926; January 3 and 9, March 24, 1929; March 7, 1931, April 28, 1932 [published in Ref. Kellner 2000, pp. 111, 113–14, 116, 132, 134].
"New York Season." Art Digest 3 (May 1, 1929), pp. 17–18.
"Exhibitions in the New York Galleries: Charles Demuth, Intimate Gallery." Art News 27 (May 4, 1929), p. 14.
Royal Cortissoz. "Three Exhibitions: Georg Kolbe, Arthur B. Davies and Charles Demuth." New York Herald Tribune (May 5, 1929), p. 10.
Edward Alden Jewell. "Now It Can Be Told. Paintings by Demuth." New York Times (May 5, 1929), p. 124.
Henry McBride. "'The Figure 5 in Gold': Strange New Painting in Oil by Demuth at Intimate Gallery." New York Sun (May 4, 1929), p. 11.
Margaret Breuning. "Group Exhibitions Feature the Week and Indicate Closing of Art Season. Other Art Events." New York Evening Post (May 11, 1929), section 4, p. 5.
Royal Cortissoz. "Charles Demuth." New York Herald Tribune (April 26, 1931), section 8, p. 8.
Ruth Green Harris. "Seen in the Galleries: Some of the Current Exhibitions that Attract Attention as the Season Wanes. Two Englishmen. Demuth. Segrelles." New York Times (April 19, 1931), p. 136.
Henry McBride. "Demuth Water Colors on View: Shown in An American Place They Revive Memories of Henry James." New York Sun (April 18, 1931), p. 8.
"Demuth's Retrospective Show." New York Times (April 14, 1931), p. 30.
Margaret Breuning. "The Tempo of the Art Season's Hectic Activity Shows Signs of Slowing Down." New York Evening Post (May 2, 1931), p. D5, calls it "Figure 5".
"Exhibitions in New York: Charles Demuth. An American Place." Art News 29 (April 18, 1931), p. 10.
Royal Cortissoz. "The Abstractionists Show Their Mettle." New York Herald Tribune (February 17, 1935), p. D10.
"Charles Demuth, Noted Artist, Dies." New York Times (October 25, 1935), p. 22.
Royal Cortissoz. "The Delicate Art of the Late Chas. Demuth." New York Herald Tribune (December 19, 1937), p. 8.
Martha Davidson. "Demuth, Architect of Painting: The Whitney's Complete Show Permits a New Appraisal." Art News 36 (December 18, 1937), p. 8.
Henry McBride. "Charles Demuth Memorial Show." New York Sun (December 18, 1937), p. 14.
Dorothy Grafly. "The Fathering of Modern Art in America." Studio 130 (November 1945), p. 148, ill.
"Acquired by the Metropolitan." New York Times (July 10, 1949), p. X6, ill.
Robert Beverly Hale. 100 American Painters of the 20th Century: Works Selected from the Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1950, ill. p. 75 (color).
Margaret Breuning. "Demuth's Fastidious Taste and Magical Craft." Art Digest 24 (March 15, 1950), p. 17, ill.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Miniatures. Vol. 17, album W, Twentieth-Century American Painters. New York, 1950, unpaginated, no. 6, ill. (color).
"Panorama of American 20th Century Art Exhibited." Santa Barbara News-Press (June 18, 1950), p. C-5.
William Carlos Williams. The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams. New York, 1951, p. 152.
Francis Henry Taylor. Fifty Centuries of Art. New York, 1954, ill. p. 184 (color).
Howard Devree. "About Art and Artists: Show to Help Build an American-French Citadel of Culture Will Open Today." New York Times (May 5, 1955), p. 49.
James Thrall Soby inNew Art in America: Fifty Painters of the 20th Century. Ed. John I. H. Baur. Greenwich, Conn., 1957, ill. p. 55.
Emily Farnham. "Charles Demuth: His Life, Psychology, and Works." PhD diss., Ohio State University, Columbus, 1959, vol. 1, pp. 127–28, 337, 339–40, fig. 28; vol. 2, pp. 616–17, no. 515; vol. 3, pp. 989–90, as "Poster Portrait: I Saw the Figure Five in Gold [Hommage to William Carlos Williams]".
William H. Pierson Jr. and Martha Davidson, ed. Arts of the United States: A Pictorial Survey. New York, 1960, p. 338, fig. 3071.
Martin Friedman. "The Precisionist View." Art in America 48, no. 3 ([Fall] 1960), ill. p. 37 (color).
Henry Geldzahler. American Painting in the Twentieth Century. New York, 1965, pp. 135–38, ill.
A. L. Chanin. Art Guide/ New York. New York, 1965, pp. 98–99, no. 147, ill.
Henry Geldzahler. "Numbers in Time: Two American Paintings." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 23 (April 1965), pp. 295–98, ill.
Emily Genauer. Charles Demuth of Lancaster. Exh. cat., William Penn Memorial Museum. Harrisburg, Penn., 1966, unpaginated.
H. H. Arnason. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, [1968], pp. 415–16, 597, colorpl. 191.
Richard McLanathan. The American Tradition in the Arts. New York, 1968, pp. 426–27, ill.
Bram Dijkstra. Cubism, Stieglitz, and the Early Poetry of William Carlos Williams. Princeton, 1969, pp. 78, 172, pl. 7.
Barbara Novak. American Painting of the Nineteenth Century: Realism, Idealism, and the American Experience. New York, 1969, pp. 225–26, 274, fig. 15-13.
Abraham A. Davidson. "The Poster Portraits of Charles Demuth." Auction 3 (September 1969), p. 29, fig. 1.
Kenneth Clark. Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, pp. 323, 325, no. 393, ill.
George Heard Hamilton. "The Alfred Stieglitz Collection." Metropolitan Museum Journal 3 (1970), pp. 386, 389.
Lillian Freedgood. An Enduring Image: American Painting from 1665. New York, 1970, p. 301.
George M. Cohen. A History of American Art. New York, 1971, pp. 177–78, pl. 24.
Emily Farnham. Charles Demuth: Behind a Laughing Mask. Norman, Okla., 1971, pp. 101–2, 177–78, 184, pl. 30-a, calls it "Poster Portrait: I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (Hommage to William Carlos Williams)".
Phyllis Plous inCharles Demuth: The Mechanical Encrusted on the Living. Exh. cat., Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara, 1971, pp. 20, 85, no. 108, ill. p. 70.
Nora B. Beeson. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1972, p. 281, fig. 10.
Sam Hunter and John Jacobus. American Art of the 20th Century: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. New York, 1973, pp. 141–43, fig. 238.
Marshall B. Davidson. The American Heritage History of the Artists' America. New York, 1973, p. 332, ill.
John Tancock. "The Oscillating Influence of Marcel Duchamp." Art News 72 (September 1973), ill. p. 27, erroneously locates it in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Abraham A. Davidson. The Story of American Painting. New York, 1974, pp. 56, 58–59, colorpl. 48.
Alvord L. Eiseman. "A Study of the Development of an Artist: Charles Demuth." PhD diss., New York University, School of Education, 1974, p. 527, fig. 311.
Dickran Tashjian. Skyscraper Primitives: Dada and the American Avant-Garde, 1910–1925. Middletown, Conn., 1975, pp. 211–13, ill. between pp. 164 and 165.
Henry Geldzahler in "A Bicentennial Treasury: American Masterpieces from the Metropolitan." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 33 (Winter 1975–76), ill. p. 243.
John Wilmerding. American Art. Harmondsworth, England, 1976, pp. 180–81, 223, 265 n. 5, pl. 225.
James E. Breslin. "William Carlos Williams and Charles Demuth: Cross-Fertilization in the Arts." Journal of Modern Literature 6 (April 1977), pp. 258–63, ill.
Abraham A. Davidson. "Demuth's Poster Portraits." Artforum 17 (November 1978), pp. 54, 56–57, ill.
Hilton Kramer. "A Poet's Taste in Painting at the Whitney." New York Times (December 24, 1978), p. D23, ill.
Dickran Tashjian. William Carlos Williams and the American Scene, 1920–1940. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1978, pp. 71–72, 145 n. 89, p. 163, colorpl. 4.
A. Hyatt Mayor. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Favorite Paintings. New York, 1979, pp. 102–3, ill. (color).
Thomas E. Norton. "'The N'th Whoopee of Sight'." Portfolio: The Magazine of the Visual Arts 1 (August–September 1979), pp. 20, 26, ill.
Jan Thompson. "Picabia and His Influence on American Art, 1913–17." Art Journal 39 (Fall 1979), pp. 17–18.
Milton W. Brown et al. American Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Decorative Arts, Photography. New York, 1979, pp. 438–39, pl. 466.
Howard Hibbard. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1980, p. 513, colorpl. 920.
Alvord L. Eiseman. Charles Demuth. New York, 1982, pp. 20–21, 77, colorpl. 36.
Martin Dibner inIndiana's Indianas: A Twenty-Year Retrospective of Paintings and Sculpture from the Collection of Robert Indiana. Exh. cat., William A. Farnsworth Library and Art Museum. Rockland, Me., 1982, p. 6, fig. 5.
William Marling. William Carlos Williams and the Painters, 1909–1923. Athens, Oh., 1982, pp. 34, 174.
Lisa M. Messinger. "Twentieth Century Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1982–1983. New York, 1983, p. 71.
Kathleen Howard, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1983, p. 416, no. 14, ill. (color).
Arthur Krosnick, M.D. "William Carlos Williams and Charles Demuth." Journal of the Medical Society of New Jersey 80 (September 1983), p. 704, fig. 1 (color).
Betsy Fahlman. Pennsylvania Modern: Charles Demuth of Lancaster. Exh. cat., Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia, 1983, p. 42.
William Kloss. Treasures from the National Museum of American Art. Exh. cat., Seattle Art Museum. Washington, D.C., 1985, p. 174.
Leonard Everett Fisher. Masterpieces of American Painting. New York, 1985, pp. 134, 221, no. 51, ill. p. 135 (color).
Piri Halasz. "Manhattan Museums: The 1940s vs. the 1980s; Part Two: The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Arts Magazine 59 (March 1985), pp. 93, 96.
William S. Lieberman. 20th Century Art: Selections from the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Vol. 1, Painting: 1905–1945. New York, 1986, pp. 6, 44–45, 63, ill. (color, overall and detail), calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Edward A. Aiken. "'I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold': Charles Demuth's Emblematic Portrait of William Carlos Williams." Art Journal 46 (Fall 1987), pp. 178–84, fig. 1.
Andrea O. Dean. "He Was an Acrobat on the Leading Edge of Jazz Age Art." Smithsonian 18 (October 1987), pp. 58, 66, ill. (color).
Robert Hughes. "Art: Charles Demuth amid the Silos." Time 130 (December 7, 1987), p. 91, ill. (color).
Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque et al. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 9, The United States of America. New York, 1987, p. 127, colorpl. 95.
Matt Damsker. "The Met Goes Modern: New Wing a Treasure Box, Even If Collection Has Gaps." Hartford Courant (February 11, 1987), p. C7, calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Helen Schwartz. "Contemporary Art Wing Opens at Metropolitan." Home News (February 1, 1987), p. E1, ill., calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Paul Richard. "Mixing It Up At the Metropolitan: Standards & Surprises at the Museum's New Wallace Wing." Washington Post (February 1, 1987), p. F8, ill. p. F1, calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Edward J. Sozanski. "Going Modern: The Metropolitan Opens a Handsome, New Wing." Chicago Tribune (February 8, 1987), p. M13, calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
John Dorsey. "New Wing Lifts the Met Into the 20th Century." Sun (Baltimore, Md.) (February 1, 1987), p. 12K, ill., calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
William Wilson. "A Mod Fan Dance at The Met." Los Angeles Times (February 8, 1987), p. 5, ill., calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Sylvia Hochfield. "Thoroughly Modern Met." Art News 86 (February 1987), p. 115.
Kay Larson. "History Painting." New York Magazine (November 9, 1987), p. 121.
Richard Merkin. "Divine Demuth." Vanity Fair 50 (October 1987), p. 114.
Barbara Haskell. Charles Demuth. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1987, pp. 183–86, 191 nn. 30, 32, 34, pp. 193, 211, colorpl. 89.
William C. Agee. "Demuth at the Whitney." New Criterion 6 (June 1988), p. 42.
Mark Stevens. "Art: The Poet and the Engineer." Newsweek 111 (January 4, 1988), p. 55.
Jonathan Weinberg. "Demuth and Difference." Art in America 76 (April 1988), p. 192.
Irma B. Jaffe. Joseph Stella. Rev. ed. (1st ed., 1970). New York, 1988, p. 63.
Lowery S. Sims in "Twentieth Century Art." Recent Acquisitions: A Selection, 1987–1988. New York, 1988, p. 66.
Sabine Rewald in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1989–1990." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 48 (Fall 1990), p. 76, calls it "The Figure Five in Gold".
Harry L. Wagner in Donald Goddard. American Painting. New York, 1990, p. 196, ill. p. 199 (color).
Wanda M. Corn. In the American Grain: The Billboard Poetics of Charles Demuth. Poughkeepsie, N. Y., 1991, pp. 1–2, 5–11, 16, 36, 40–42, 45, fig. 1.
Kenneth E. Silver inHand-Painted Pop: American Art in Transition, 1955–62. Ed. Russell Ferguson. Exh. cat., Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Los Angeles, 1992, pp. 186, 188, ill.
Jonathan Weinberg. Speaking for Vice: Homosexuality in the Art of Charles Demuth, Marsden Hartley, and the First American Avant-Garde. New Haven and London, 1993, pp. 114, 117, fig. 47, calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Christos M. Joachimides inAmerican Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913–1993. Ed. Christos M. Joachimides and Norman Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. Munich, 1993, p. 11.
Wieland Schmied inAmerican Art in the 20th Century: Painting and Sculpture 1913–1993. Ed. Christos M. Joachimides and Norman Rosenthal. Exh. cat., Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin. Munich, 1993, pp. 56–58, 479, no. 45, ill. n.p. (color).
Robin Jaffee Frank. Charles Demuth Poster Portraits: 1923–1929. Exh. cat., Yale University Art Gallery. New Haven, 1994, pp. 9, 12–13, 63, 71, 73–82, 107–8, 110, 118 nn. 37, 48, p. 119, nn. 56, 61, fig. 68 (color) and ill. front cover (color detail).
Barbara Burn, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd rev. ed. (1st ed., 1983). New York, 1994, p. 441, no. 18, ill. (color).
Michael Plante in Patricia McDonnell. Dictated by Life: Marsden Hartley's German Paintings and Robert Indiana's Hartley Elegies. Exh. cat., Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota. Minneapolis, 1995, pp. 78, 80, ill., calls it "The Figure Five in Gold".
Lowery Stokes Sims and Sabine Rewald inStill Life: The Object in American Art, 1915-1995. Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., Marsh Art Gallery, Richmond, Va. New York, 1996, p. 16, fig. 10 (color).
H. W. Janson and Anthony F. Janson. History of Art. 5th rev. ed. (1st ed., 1962). New York, 1997, p. 804, fig. 1055 (color).
William Wilson. "Static But Not Stagnant." Los Angeles Times (June 28, 1997), p. F1, calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
William Wilson. "'Still Life' Asks Questions About the Nature of Art." Los Angeles Times (June 30, 1997), p. F7, calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
H. H. Arnason. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. Ed. Marla F. Prather and Daniel Wheeler. Rev. 4th ed. (1st ed., 1968). New York, 1998, pp. 419–20, colorpl. 217.
James M. Dennis. Renegade Regionalists: The Modern Independence of Grant Wood, Thomas Hart Benton, and John Steuart Curry. Madison, Wisc., 1998, pp. 202–3, 269 n. 7, fig. 120.
Barbara Haskell. The American Century: Art and Culture, 1900–1950. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. New York, 1999, pp. 169–70, fig. 318 (color).
Wanda M. Corn. The Great American Thing: Modern Art and National Identity, 1915–1935. Berkeley, 1999, pp. 200–209, 211, 223–24, 226, 228, 234–36, 246, 357–59, 383 n. 40, p. 384 n. 52, p. 421, fig. 169 (color).
Stella Paul. Twentieth-Century Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Resource for Educators. New York, 1999, pp. 63–65, ill. (detail and bw) and ill. p. 62 (color), calls it "The Figure 5 in Gold".
Charles Brock in Sarah Greenough. Modern Art and America: Alfred Stieglitz and His New York Galleries. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D. C., 2000, pp. 370, 372, 522 nn. 29–30, fig. 106 (color).
Bruce Kellner, ed. Letters of Charles Demuth, American Artist, 1883–1935. Philadelphia, 2000, pp. 81, 111, 113–14, 116, 132, 134, 179.
Mark Andrew White. "Slicing and Dionysian: Peter Blume's 'Vegetable Dinner'." American Art 14 (Spring 2000), p. 91 n. 12.
Vivien Green Fryd. "Georgia O'Keeffe's 'Radiator Building': Gender, Sexuality, Modernism, and Urban Imagery." Winterthur Portfolio 35 (Winter 2000), p. 274, fig. 7.
Vivien Green Fryd. Art and the Crisis of Marriage: Edward Hopper and Georgia O'Keeffe. Chicago, 2003, pp. 158–59, fig. 96.
Shearer West. Portraiture. Oxford and New York, 2004, p. 199, fig. 124.
Uwe Fleckner inPorträt ohne Antlitz: Abstrakte Strategien in der Bildniskunst. Ed. Dirk Luckow and Petra Gördüren. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle zu Kiel. Kiel, 2004, p. 22, fig. 6 (color), calls it "I saw the Figure 5 in Gold (William Carlos Williams)".
Karen M. Cardozo. "Essaying Democracy: The Post/Modern Intertexts of Kingston, Rodriguez, and Williams." William Carlos Williams Review 27 (Spring 2007), p. 19.
Important American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture. Christie's, New York. May 24, 2007, p. 44, under no. 25, ill. (color).
George Monteiro. "Carlos Williams, Actor." William Carlos Williams Review 27 (Spring 2007), pp. 69–70.
Daniel Morris. "The Erotics of Close Reading: Williams, Demuth, and 'The Crimson Cyclamen'." William Carlos Williams Review 27 (Spring 2007), pp. 66–67.
Betsy Fahlman. Chimneys and Towers: Charles Demuth's Late Paintings of Lancaster. Exh. cat., Amon Carter Museum. Fort Worth, 2007, pp. 90, 197, fig. 44 (color).
Claire Barry in Betsy Fahlman. Chimneys and Towers: Charles Demuth's Late Paintings of Lancaster. Exh. cat., Amon Carter Museum. Fort Worth, 2007, pp. 174, 179 n. 4.
Susan Chan Egan. "Research Note: Painting Signs, Demuth's Portrait of Charles Duncan." American Art 22 (Fall 2008), p. 90.
H. H. Arnason and Elizabeth C. Mansfield. History of Modern Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture, Photography. 6th ed. (1st ed., 1968). Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2010, pp. 377–78, fig. 16.32 (color).
Judith H. Dobrzynski. "Masterpiece, Anatomy of a Classic: Where Paint and Poetry Meet." Wall Street Journal (July 10–11, 2010), ill. (color).
Post-war and Contemporary Art. Christie's, New York. May 11, 2010, pp. 90–91, under no. 47, ill. (color).
Sharyn R. Udall inSensory Crossovers: Synesthesia in American Art. Exh. cat., Albuquerque Museum. Albuquerque, 2010, pp. 35–37, fig. 23.
Betsy Fahlman in Charles Brock and Nancy Anderson with Harry Cooper. American Modernism: The Shein Collection. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2010, pp. 45, 129.
Lisa Mintz Messinger inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, pp. 89, 102–3, 257–58, 317 nn. 25, 28, 29, no. 60, ill. (color), fig. 17 (installation photo of Exh. New York 1950).
Isabelle Duvernois and Rachel Mustalish inStieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O'Keeffe. The Alfred Stieglitz Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Lisa Mintz Messinger. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2011, p. 102.
Ariella Budick. "Visionary with Blind Spots." Financial Times (December 16, 2011), ill. (color).
Katherine Hoffman. Alfred Stieglitz: A Legacy of Light. New Haven, 2011, fig. 100 (color).
Holland Cotter. "High Aims for Art's Sake." New York Times (October 14, 2011), p. C25.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2012, p. 416, ill. (color).
John Wilmerding. "Poetry in Motion, Expressed in Paint." Wall Street Journal (December 29–30, 2012), p. C13, ill.
Joshua S. Walden. "Representation and Musical Portraiture in the Twentieth Century." Representation in Western Music. Ed. Joshua S. Walden. Cambridge, 2013, p. 129.
Daniel R. Schwarz. "Painting Williams, Reading Demuth: 'The Great Figure' and 'I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold'." William Carlos Williams Review 32, no. 1–2 (2015), pp. 17–18, 22, 27–32.
Kathryn Calley Galitz. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Masterpiece Paintings. New York, 2016, p. 524, ill. (color), colorpl. 447.
Leo G. Mazow in Katherine M. Bourguignon Lauren Kroiz and Leo G. Mazow. America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper. Exh. cat., Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, England, 2018, p. 39.
Ashley Lazevnick in Katherine M. Bourguignon Lauren Kroiz and Leo G. Mazow. America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper. Exh. cat., Ashmolean Museum. Oxford, England, 2018, pp. 82–83, no. 26, ill. (color) pp. 20 (detail), 83, 129.
Emma Acker inCult of the Machine: Precisionism and American Art. Exh. cat., de Young, San Francisco. San Francisco, 2018, p. 32, fig. 18 (color).
Laura Cumming. "America's Cool Modernism: O'Keeffe to Hopper Review—A Whole New Story." theguardian.com. April 1, 2018, ill. (color).
Abra Levenson. "Figures and Things: Charles Demuth, 1908–1935." PhD diss., Princeton University, 2018, pp. 1–6, 23–24, 31–34, 39, 108–9, 143–44 nn. 5–8, p. 145–46 n. 15, p. 175 n. 233, fig. 2.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 2019, p. 416, ill. (color).
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, p. 7, ill. p. 51 (color).
Philip J. Deloria. Becoming Mary Sully: Toward an American Indian Abstract. Seattle, 2019, pp. 156–57, 163, fig. 4.5 (color).
Douglas Eklund, Marilyn F. Friedman, and Randall R. Griffey inMaking The Met, 1870–2020. Ed. Andrea Bayer with Laura D. Corey. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2020, pp. 166, 253, fig. 181 (color).
Didier Ottinger in Marta Ruiz del Árbol. Georgia O'Keeffe. Exh. cat., Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza. Madrid, 2021, p. 67, fig. 43 (color).
Lauren Rosati. "Framing Thomas Wilfred's Lumia: Museums, Intermedia and the Problem with Painting." Journal of Curatorial Studies 12, no. 2 (2023), p. 112, ill. p. 113 (color, installation photo, Exh. New York 1958–60).
Aliza Sena, associate coordinator for Digital Learning, invites you to Dine and Draw at The Met and shares a selection of drawings made by kids from around the world.
Consider how artists convey personality in nonfigural portraits and the relationship between visual and verbal expression by looking at a painting by Charles Demuth in the Museum's Modern and Contemporary galleries and through a portrait-making activity in the classroom.
Charles Demuth (American, Lancaster, Pennsylvania 1883–1935 Lancaster, Pennsylvania)
1917
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