Charles Sheeler Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids Charles Sheeler
Charles Sheeler standing next to a window. c. 1910.
Born	(1883-07-16)July 16, 1883 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Died	May 7, 1965(1965-05-07) (aged 81) Dobbs Ferry, New York, US
Known for	Modern art, Photography
Movement	Precisionism, American Modernism

Charles Sheeler (born July 16, 1883 – died May 7, 1965) was an American artist. He was famous for his unique style of painting called Precisionism. He also did commercial photography and made an important early film called Manhatta. Sheeler is known as one of the first artists to bring modern art to America.

Early Life and Art Journey
Making the Film Manhatta
Working with Ford Motor Company
Photography and Film Work
- Films by Charles Sheeler
- Photographic Works
Selected Paintings
Exhibitions
Gallery
- Paintings
- Photographs
See also

Early Life and Art Journey

Charles Rettew Sheeler Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied art at the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art and later at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. One of his teachers was William Merritt Chase.

Sheeler started his career as a painter and showed his work in galleries quite early. He traveled to Italy and France, where he saw art by old Italian painters like Giotto. He was also inspired by new art styles like Cubism from artists such as Pablo Picasso.

When he came back to the United States, Sheeler found it hard to make a living just from modern painting. So, he taught himself photography using a simple Brownie camera. He became a commercial photographer, often taking pictures of buildings.

Sheeler lived in a farmhouse in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He loved this old house and even called it his "cloister." He took many photos of the house, including its kitchen and stairs. He even photographed his old 19th-century stove, calling it his "companion."

An interesting fact is that Sheeler's art was part of the art competition at the 1932 Summer Olympics.

In 1942, Sheeler started working for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He was a senior researcher in photography. He photographed many artworks and historical objects for the museum. Sheeler's paintings often looked very precise and almost like photographs, which is why his style is called "Precisionism."

Making the Film Manhatta

In 1920, Sheeler worked with another photographer, Paul Strand. They wanted to create a "portrait" of Manhattan in a film. The short film they made was nine minutes long and was called Manhatta. It was named after a poem by Walt Whitman. This film was the first avant-garde (experimental) movie made in America.

Working with Ford Motor Company

Sheeler was hired by the Ford Motor Company to photograph their factories. He also made paintings of these industrial buildings. This work helped him explore his interest in machinery and modern industry in his art.

Photography and Film Work

Films by Charles Sheeler

1921 Manhatta (with Paul Strand)

Photographic Works

1917 Doylestown House: Stairs from Below (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
1927 Criss-Crossed Conveyors, River Rouge Plant, Ford Motor Company (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
1928 Images from Vogue and Vanity Fair

Selected Paintings

Early Works

Still Life (1925), one of Sheeler's earlier works, showing his precise style.

Connecticut Barns (1934), a painting Sheeler created for a government art project.

Church Street El (1920) – The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland
Still Life (1925) – M. H. de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco
Upper Deck (1928–1929) – Harvard Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
American Landscape (1930) – Museum of Modern Art, New York City
Americana (1931) – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
View of New York (1931) – Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
River Rouge Plant (1933) – Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City

The Power Series

In 1940, Fortune Magazine asked Sheeler to create a series of six paintings. These paintings showed different types of power and machinery. Sheeler spent a year traveling and taking photos to prepare for this project. He chose subjects like a water wheel, a steam turbine, a railroad, an airplane, and a dam.

Conversation: Sky and Earth (1939) – Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth
Primitive Power (1939) – The Regis Collection, Minneapolis
Rolling Power (1939) – Smith College, Northampton
Steam Turbine (1939) – Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown
Suspended Power (1939) – Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas
Yankee Clipper (1939) – Rhode Island School of Design, Providence

Later Works

The monument of Charles Sheeler and his second wife, Musya, in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Fugue (1940) – Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Artist Looks at Nature (1943) – Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
Water (1945) – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Incantation (1946) – Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn
Amoskeag Canal (1948) – Currier Museum of Art, Manchester
Windows (1952) – Hirschl & Adler Galleries, New York City
Conversation Piece (1952) – Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem
Aerial Gyrations (1953) – San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco
Ore Into Iron (1953) – Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Stacks in Celebration (1954) – Dayton Art Institute, Dayton
Architectural Cadences Number 4 (1954) – Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth
Midwest (1954) – Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
Golden Gate (1955) – Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Western Industrial (1955) – Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
The Web (1955) – Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY
On a Shaker Theme (1956) – Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Exhibitions

Charles Sheeler's work has been shown in many important art museums. Some of these include:

"Charles Sheeler: Paintings, Drawings, Photographs" – Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1939.
"Charles Sheeler: A Retrospective Exhibition" – Art Galleries, University of California at Los Angeles, 1954. This show traveled to several other museums.
"Charles Sheeler" – National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, DC, 1968. This show also traveled to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
"Charles Sheeler: Across Media" – National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2006. This exhibition included paintings, photographs, drawings, and a film.
"The Photography of Charles Sheeler" – Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2003. This show featured nearly 100 of his photographs.