Charles Demuth (1883-1935)

Vaudeville captured the nation's attention in the late 19th century and, by 1905, this uniquely American form of entertainment had taken to the road, spreading from city centers to rural areas, becoming the country's most popular form of entertainment. Fascinated by this aspect of American culture, Charles Demuth attended vaudeville shows both in New York and in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, at the Colonial Theatre and Fulton Opera House. Demuth, along with fellow artists Stuart Davis and Everett Shinn, flocked to the theaters to witness the feats and fantastical costumes of the stage performers.

Beginning in 1915, Demuth created a series of watercolors called In Vaudeville, based on both the popular fascination with theatrical performances as well as his own personal and visceral response to the energy and excitement of the shows. The In Vaudeville series presents iconic images of the stage, depicting jugglers, dancers, trapeze artists and tumblers. In the present work, Acrobats, Demuth focuses on the sinuous body angles of two gymnasts preparing to launch into their act for the crowd. With a concentration on color and line, in works such as Acrobats, Demuth invents a fresh approach to painting the stage that is not about pictorial specificity, but rather illusion and expression.