Rooftops and Trees 1918

Charles Demuth made ‘Rooftops and Trees’ using watercolor and graphite on paper. Look at these soft washes and angular lines and how they meet on the page – like the landscape itself, the artwork is composed of different elements. I can imagine Demuth, looking out of the window from his studio, observing the world outside and distilling what he sees into these basic forms. What I find so compelling is the way he combines the flat planes of cubism with the atmospheric qualities of watercolor. The pale blues and greens give the artwork a dreamy quality, while the sharp angles of the rooftops and the starkness of the trees root it in reality. You could say that this contrast is echoed in the way the painting invites us to see the world – to see the beauty in the everyday, and to find the abstract in the real. The dialogue between these visual languages creates tension and balance.