Building the Collection: Alfred Stieglitz and His Circle

Fig. 1 Arthur Dove, Moth Dance, 1929, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred Stieglitz Collection

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Layered circles and dots, crosses, checkered patterns, curved and wavy lines, and other geometric shapes in tomato red, shamrock green, buttercup yellow, royal blue, black, and bright white float against a field of unpainted canvas in this vertical, abstract painting. The shapes are most densely packed at the center of the composition. The eye is drawn to a red circle with flame-like forms at the sides and top, about three-quarters of the way up the canvas. Immediately underneath it and arcing out to our left is navy-blue band with three white, wavy lines. Other patterns to either side of the central red shape include two flag-like squares of alternating green and white stripes near two other patches containing a red and green checkered pattern. Other areas are patterned in black and yellow stripes, and blue and white stripes. Dots, lines, and lollipop-like shapes are scattered sparsely through the rest of the composition. Three shapes float near three of the corners, not touching anything in the layered, central portion: a red circle within a yellow ring at the upper right; a red dot at the lower left; and a red cross at the lower right. The frame was painted by the artist in the same colors as the canvas, with bands of color separating dots, crosses, and the lollipop-like form.

Fig. 2 Marsden Hartley, The Aero, c. 1914, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Fund

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Bold strokes and fainter smudges of black, blue, red, brown, and white dance across a white ground in this painting to suggest an abstracted seascape. A long, horizontal black line three-quarters of the way up the canvas suggests the horizon line. An arched line above seems supported by diagonal lines at the left and right edge, to suggest the span of an arched bridge in the distance. Blue squiggles are mostly contained within the center of the composition to suggest water while brown lines and red marks fill the lower corners, perhaps alluding to a beach or shoreline. The artist signed the work with black letters and the date in the lower right corner: “Marin 52.” The frame has been painted white in the corners and tan on each side, with darker brown lines separating the alternating bands of white and light brown.

Fig. 3 John Marin, The Written Sea, 1952, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Deborah and Ed Shein

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Geometric shapes and mostly flat areas of color suggest an abstracted sunflower in a vase against a background made of vibrant bands of color in this vertical painting. A spring-green oval shape takes up the middle of the lower half of this composition. Cut straight cross the top and bottom, it recalls a wide-mouthed vase. The head of the stylized flower seems to rest propped over or on the top edge of the vase. A pine-green circle is outlined with celery green, and then surrounded by a larger, yellow disk to represent the head and petals of the flower. The yellow lightens from canary to goldenrod around the green disk within. Then, the yellow disk is outlined with a darker, honey color. The head of the flower is surrounded by a pale pink disk. A stylized green stem curves from the blossom into the vase on our left. Bands and blocks of color make up the background in flat areas of crimson red, black, eggplant purple, pumpkin orange, white, and shades of blue and green.

Fig. 4 Edward Steichen, Le Tournesol (The Sunflower), c. 1920, tempera and oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Collectors Committee

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This nearly square painting shows an industrial area with buildings, storage silos, a smokestack, and railroad tracks. A mound of brown dirt or other material is in shadow in the lower left corner of the painting. Next to the mound, railroad tracks extend diagonally from the lower center of the painting into the distance to our right. The tracks end at a white building with staggered gray rooflines to our right in the distance. A tall terracotta-red smokestack rises high beyond the white building, smoke pouring out of its top and blending into the clouds above. Just beyond the mound of dirt, piles of white material, perhaps in unseen bins, line the railroad track to our left and lead back to a row ten interconnected, coral-orange silos. The horizon comes about halfway up the painting, and it is lined with a row of long white and gray warehouses. The artist signed and dated the work with brown paint in the lower right corner: “Sheeler 31.”

Fig. 5 Charles Sheeler, Classic Landscape, 1931, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Barney A. Ebsworth

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