The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

The Pool (recto); Landscape (verso)

The Pool (recto); Landscape (verso)

c. 1916–1919
(American, 1867–1949)
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.)
Location: not on view

Description

In 1914, Sommer moved to Brandywine—located halfway between Cleveland and Akron—where he converted an abandoned schoolhouse into a studio that became an important meeting place for modern artists, poets, and musicians. This rural community provided inspirational subject matter for much of his subsequent work, including The Pool, which also reveals his stylistic debt to French avant-garde art. Seeking freedom from convention by immersing himself in nature, Sommer explained, “I believe art should be as spontaneous as the song of a bird.”
  • William Sommer Entry Card to 1945 May Show. Cleveland Museum of Art May Show Records, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    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 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6 archive.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 56
  • 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.
    Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991).
    Vienna, Austria, The American Embassy, 1978- : Art in Embassies Program, Department of State.
    Exhibition of Ohio Painters. The Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH (organizer) (April 4-30, 1967).
    Exhibition of the Month: The Artist, The River and the Sea. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 2-July 28, 1947).
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=The Pool (recto); Landscape (verso)|url=false|author=William Sommer|year=c. 1916–1919|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1945.46