id: 124520
accession number: 1945.46
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1945.46
updated: 2024-03-26 01:58:01.976000
The Pool (recto); Landscape (verso), c. 1916–1919. William Sommer (American, 1867–1949). Oil on panel; framed: 99.7 x 79.4 x 6.4 cm (39 1/4 x 31 1/4 x 2 1/2 in.); unframed: 80.7 x 60 cm (31 3/4 x 23 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Silver Jubilee Treasure Fund 1945.46
title: The Pool (recto); Landscape (verso)
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series:
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creation date: c. 1916–1919
creation date earliest: 1916
creation date latest: 1919
current location:
creditline: Silver Jubilee Treasure Fund
copyright:
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culture: America, Ohio, Cleveland
technique: oil on panel
department: American Painting and Sculpture
collection: American - Cleveland School
type: Painting
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catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* William Sommer (American, 1867–1949) - artist
Born in Detroit to a family of German immigrants, Sommer first studied drawing at the age of 11 with Julius Gari Melchers. Pursuing a career in commercial lithography, Sommer apprenticed at Calvert Lithography in Detroit, 1881–88, and subsequently worked at various lithography shops in Boston, New York, and England. In 1890 he went abroad for a year of study at the Kunstakademie in Munich. In 1891 he returned to New York and spent the next 16 years working as a commercial lithographer. In 1907 he moved to Cleveland to work for the Otis Lithograph Company, where he became friendly with William Zorach. Around 1910, and under the influence of Abel Warshawsky, Sommer began to experiment with impressionist colors; subsequently he experimented with a fauvist palette. He exhibited with the Cleveland “secessionists” at the Rorimer-Brooks Studios in early 1911 and cofounded the Kokoon Klub that summer. Around 1914 he moved to Brandywine, a rural valley about 20 miles south of Cleveland, where he converted an abandoned schoolhouse into a studio that became an important meeting place for modern artists, poets, and musicians. In May 1918 Sommer designed stage sets and programs for a production of Everyman by the Cleveland Play House. He exhibited in the annual May Shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art (1922–50). In the 1930s and 1940s he exhibited on a regular basis in Cleveland, Chicago, and New York. During the Depression he was employed by various New Deal art programs to paint murals for Cleveland Public Hall (1933), Cleveland Public Library (1934), the post office in Geneva, Ohio (1938), and the Akron Board of Education (1941). After the death of his wife in 1945, he was struck by chronic bouts of depression and alcoholism. Sommer died in Brandywine.
"Transformations in Cleveland Art" (CMA, 1996), p. 238
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measurements: Framed: 99.7 x 79.4 x 6.4 cm (39 1/4 x 31 1/4 x 2 1/2 in.); Unframed: 80.7 x 60 cm (31 3/4 x 23 5/8 in.)
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The May Show: 27th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen
opening date: 1945-05-01T04:00:00
The May Show: 27th Annual Exhibition of Works by Cleveland Artists and Craftsmen. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 1-June 10, 1945).
title: Exhibition of the Month: The Artist, The River and the Sea
opening date: 1947-06-02T04:00:00
Exhibition of the Month: The Artist, The River and the Sea. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 2-July 28, 1947).
title: Exhibition of Ohio Painters
opening date: 1967-04-04T05:00:00
Exhibition of Ohio Painters. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH (organizer) (April 4-30, 1967).
title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum
opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00
Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'Vienna, Austria, The American Embassy, 1978- : Art in Embassies Program, Department of State.', 'opening_date': '1978-01-01T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'Massillon Museum (5/15/2010 - 9/12/2010), Riffe Gallery (11/4/2010 - 1/9/2011), and Southern Ohio Museum (3/5/2011 - 5/29/2011): "Against the Grain: Modernism in the Midwest", ex. cat. no. 59, p. 97.', 'opening_date': '2010-05-15T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
William Sommer Entry Card to 1945 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.
page number:
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMS07295/
Channing, Laurence, "Before Neo: The May Show", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 45 no. 07, September 2005
page number: Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6
url: https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2005-07/page/6
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 56
url:
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IMAGES