Charles Demuth

A pioneer of American modernism and a prominent figure in Precisionism, he transformed cities and industrial scenes into rhythmic images with clean lines, vivid colors, and the unexpected poetry of everyday life. As a painter and printmaker, he excelled in geometrically stylized compositions that combined austere precision with delicate sensitivity. His painting I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold is now considered an icon of 20th-century American art.