Bermuda No. 2, The Schooner

Charles Demuth

1917 · Watercolor and graphite on paper · Modern and Contemporary Art

While in Bermuda, Demuth expanded upon the Cubo-Futurist style that he had begun to experiment with a few months earlier in Provincetown, Massachusetts (where Marsden Hartley also summered). The presence of the French Cubist, Albert Gleizes, in Bermuda that winter may have further inspired his explorations in this direction, resulting in a number of compositions made up of multiple intersecting lines and planes. The triangular rays that fill this sheet define the three masts, sails, and hull of a large ship bearing a Danish flag. The ship, Elsa, was docked in St. George for repairs during the winter of 1916–17, and would have been an impressive sight as it measured 190 feet long and 37 feet wide, had two decks, and a weight of 1236 tons. Its image inspired at least three of Hartley's Bermuda paintings from 1917.

Artist

Charles Demuth

Date

1917

Medium

Watercolor and graphite on paper

Department

Modern and Contemporary Art

Credit line

Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949