The Artist Looks at Nature

Charles SheelerWW-1943-131262

1943·Oil on canvas·53.3 × 45.7 cm (21 × 18 in.)

The Artist Looks at Nature presents an imagined scene of rolling greenery, massive stone walls, stairs, and pathways. Contrary to its title, the artist, Charles Sheeler, depicted himself seated at an easel, ignoring the brightly lit landscape in front of him. Rather, the figure works intently on a monochromatic drawing of an antiquated stove, which is based on one of Sheeler’s own photographs from 1917. The self-portrait also relies upon an earlier photograph by the artist. Here, Sheeler engaged in reconstructing his own artistic past—looking back at his work across media and reconfiguring it into something new and surreal in the present. Although the painting’s intent remains unknown, it is clear that Sheeler, as artist, catalyzed and shaped this visual journey.

Catalogue

Year: 1943
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 53.3 × 45.7 cm (21 × 18 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Charles Sheeler

Artist

Charles Sheeler

Painting

A leading figure of the Precisionist movement of the 1920s – 30s, Charles Sheeler is known for his crisply-articulated interpretations of the modernizing American landscape, from the urban monoliths of the New York City skyline to the sprawling factories of the industrial Midwest. In his carefully balanced compositions, Sheeler explored aesthetic and conceptual tension, chiefly between abstraction and representation; objectivity and subjectivity; painting and photography; and the past and present. Sheeler employed a novel process for creating paintings based on his photographs, once observing: “Photography records inalterably the single image, while painting records a plurality of images willfully directed by the artist.” The process-driven dialogue between media and object endures as one of Sheeler’s greatest contributions to American modernism.

Philadelphia, PA, USA

Full artist profile →