Chimney and Water Tower 1931

Charles Demuth made this painting of a chimney and water tower with oil on canvas. He builds up the forms with careful blocks of color, making each shape and plane distinct, almost like a collage, but with paint. The surface is smooth. I like to imagine him using a big, soft brush to blend the colors so seamlessly. Look at the way the chimney rises like a bold exclamation point. It’s softened by the grays and whites behind, but still, it stands tall, proud and a little ominous. The geometry is so crisp it feels like a machine-made image, yet it was rendered by a person. It reminds me of the hard-edged paintings of the Precisionists, like Sheeler, who celebrated industry with a similar cool eye. But here, Demuth adds a touch of mystery, a ghostly atmosphere that gives it an emotional resonance, suggesting that even the most rigid forms can have a poetic heart.