Trapezoidal and triangular shapes fill this gouache (opaque watercolor) by Charles Demuth. These repeated forms evoke sailboats gliding across water. Demuth was likely inspired to paint this subject by his visit to a popular fishing and artists’ colony in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1919. The angular, sharply focused sails and smooth surface of the gouache display Demuth’s engagement with the American artistic style called Precisionism. Precisionists were inspired by European modern art, particularly the geometric forms characteristic of the Cubist style.
