The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Jazz Band (125 of 150)

Jazz Band (125 of 150)

1920
Location: not on view

Description

One of Cleveland’s most innovative and prolific artists, Sommer came to Cleveland in 1907 to work in the commercial lithography industry. However, he hated the work and devoted almost all of his free time to producing experimental art. His modernist paintings strongly influenced other Cleveland artists, including the young Charles Burchfield, who in 1915 made a special trip to visit Sommer at his home in the Cuyahoga Valley. Often living on the brink of bankruptcy, Sommer worked incessantly using any materials at hand. He painted this watercolor, whose dynamic forms capture the spirit of the Jazz Age, on the back of an invitation to an exhibition opening at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
  • "Current Exhibitions", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 44 no. 04, April 2004 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 2 archive.org
    Robinson, William H., Kathleen McKeever, "And All That Jazz", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 44 no. 05, May 2004 Mentioned & reproduced: cover, p. 4-6 archive.org
  • Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 28-July 18, 2004).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; March 28 - July 18, 2004. "Burchfield to Schreckengost: Cleveland Art of the Jazz Age", no exhibition catalogue.
  • {{cite web|title=Jazz Band (125 of 150)|url=false|author=William Sommer|year=1920|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1954.153.125