id:			161770
accession number:	2001.110
share license status:	Copyrighted
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/2001.110
updated:		2024-03-26 02:00:44.001000

Portrait of a Woman in Profile, Turned to the Left, 1890. William Sommer (American, 1867–1949). Charcoal with stumping and erasure; sheet: 50.8 x 39 cm (20 x 15 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Joseph Erdelac in memory of Ed Henning 2001.110

title:				Portrait of a Woman in Profile, Turned to the Left
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			1890
creation date earliest:		1890
creation date latest:		1890
current location:		
creditline:			Gift of Joseph Erdelac in memory of Ed Henning
copyright:			

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culture:	America, Ohio, 19th century
technique:	charcoal with stumping and erasure
department:	Drawings
collection:	DR - American 19th Century
type:		Drawing
find spot:	
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 <em>Everyman</em> 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. <br>"Transformations in Cleveland Art" (CMA, 1996), p. 238
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measurements: Sheet: 50.8 x 39 cm (20 x 15 3/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:

	description:	light brown wove paper
	watermarks:	

inscriptions:

	inscription:	signed, upper right, in charcoal: May 30--1890-- / Munich / William Sommer [the 18 added later in pen and black ink]
	translation:	
	remark:		

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Pioneering Modernism; Post Impressionism in Cleveland, 1908-1913
	opening date:   2013-05-24T00:00:00
	<i>Pioneering Modernism; Post Impressionism in Cleveland, 1908-1913</i>. Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, OH (organizer) (May 24-July 27, 2013).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* {'description': 'Cleveland Artists Foundation, Lakewood, OH (5/24/2013 - 7/27/2013):  "Pioneering Modernism; Post Impressionism in Cleveland, 1908-1913"', 'opening_date': '2013-05-24T00:00:00'}

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PROVENANCE

	Joseph M. Erdelac [1915-2005], Cleveland, OH, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: ?-2001
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland,OH
	date: September 5, 2001-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:

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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Adams, Henry, and Lawrence Waldman. <em>Painting in Pure Color: Modern Art in Cleveland Before the Armory Show (1908-1913)</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Artists Foundation, 2013.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 20
	url:		

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IMAGES