Artwork Page for Sketch: Dancers (51 of 150)

Details / Information for Sketch: Dancers (51 of 150)

Sketch: Dancers (51 of 150)

c. 1920s–40s

William Sommer

(American, 1867–1949)
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Culture
America, Ohio, Cleveland
Medium
ink, graphite, and color on paper
Credit Line
Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund 1954.153.51
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

The Cleveland writer Robert Bordner left an intriguing account of a discussion that occurred one evening at Sommer’s home in the Cuyahoga Valley. Also present was Sommer’s close friend, the poet Hart Crane. Their conversation indicates Sommer’s desire to discover analogies between art and music: “We had been listening to Bill’s Bach records, and Bill was declaring he could SEE in color the various movements of the music…. Crane was fascinated and we got into whether poetry could be heard in colors too.”
A horizontally oriented ink and watercolor drawing on aged paper features three nude figures amidst expressive shapes. Left, a pale figure with their back turned gestures toward tiered, rounded pink and green forms. Centrally, a figure with a warm skin tone arches backward in a deep curve. Right, a third figure leans toward them, wearing a pink cap. Thick black outlines and jagged black and orange strokes define the energetic background.

Sketch: Dancers (51 of 150)

c. 1920s–40s

William Sommer

(American, 1867–1949)
America, Ohio, Cleveland

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