b. 1883 d. 1935

Site Affiliation: Demuth Museum

Born in Lancaster, PA in 1883, Charles Demuth moved to his King Street home in 1889 as his father began to manage the nearby Demuth Tobacco Shop. Charles developed a hip infirmity around the age of 4, requiring extensive bed rest. To keep him occupied, he was given watercolors and drawing books, later leading to art lessons throughout his childhood and a formal education at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Demuth traveled to Paris as a young man, where he became part of the avant garde and modern art scene, and later a pioneer of Precisionism and a master watercolorist. Although he studied and painted in Philadelphia, New York, Provincetown, and Paris, Demuth created most artworks in his Lancaster home where he worked in a second floor studio overlooking his mother’s garden. The garden was a source of inspiration, in addition to Lancaster’s landscape and architecture.

HAHS Affiliations: Charles was part of the Stieglitz Circle, which included HAHS artists Arthur Dove, Helen Torr, and Georgia O’Keeffe. O’Keeffe would visit Charles Demuth at his Lancaster home.

Fun Fact: Charles Demuth was one of the first people to receive insulin as a treatment for diabetes.

Recommended Publications: Charles Demuth: The Demuth Museum Collection; Charles Demuth: his life, psychology, and works by Emily Farnham