The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Viaduct at Sunset

Viaduct at Sunset

c. 1914
(American, 1867–1949)
Sheet: 28.3 x 36.4 cm (11 1/8 x 14 5/16 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

During the early 1910s, Sommer began painting imaginative works charged with brilliant Fauvist color. Although supporting himself as a professional lithographer, Sommer sought release from the crass materialism of the commercial world through the inventive, spiritual art he produced during almost every spare moment of free time. Many Cleveland artists were inspired by his rebellion against conventional taste. In 1915 the young Charles Burchfield made a special trip to visit Sommer at his home in the Cuyahoga Valley, the probable site depicted in this watercolor. The meeting was a decisive experience for Burchfield, who adopted Sommer’s attitude that, rather than copy nature, artists should explore dreams and the subconscious. It is no coincidence that radiant suns and moons, symbols of spiritual transcendence, permeate the paintings of both artists.
  • ?-1966
    Dr. and Mrs. Theodor W. Braasch, Cleveland Heights, OH
    November 5, 1966
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Robinson, William H., et. al. Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946: Community and Diversity in Early Modern America. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: p. 84; Mentioned: p. 85, 250
    Weekly, Nancy and Audrey Lewis. Exalted Nature: The Real and Fantastic World of Charles E. Burchfield. Buffalo, NY: Burchfield Penney Art Center, SUNY Buffalo State, 2014. Reproduced: p. 19, fig. 4; Mentioned: p. 128
  • Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 28-July 18, 2004).
    Transformations in Cleveland Art, 1796-1946. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 19-July 21, 1996).
    Cleveland Art Comes of Age: 1919-1940. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 28-September 10, 1989).
    Year in Review: 1967. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 29-December 31, 1967).
  • {{cite web|title=Viaduct at Sunset|url=false|author=William Sommer|year=c. 1914|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.533