Charles Sheeler American Precisionist Painter and Photographer 1883-1965

Charles Sheeler Charles Sheeler was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1883 Studied in the School of Industrial Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia. By the age of 17 he had decided that, "more than anything else, he wanted to paint."

Barn Reds 1938 tempera and graphite on board

Charles Sheeler Sheeler studied under William Merritt Chase at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. When he realized, at the age of 29, that he could not support himself by painting, he trained himself in photography and began to photograph professionally in 1912.

Windows c. 1952 Oil on canvas

Charles Sheeler Although he supported himself as an architectural photographer, Sheeler dabbled in : vernacular art architecture during the weekends.

Classic Landscape 1931 Oil on canvas

Charles Sheeler During the 1920s, Sheeler was associated with a group of painters called the Precisionists, known for their realistic style of painting. Sheeler focused strongly on industrial subjects and was a distinguished photographer of machines.

Connecticut Barns in Landscape 1934 oil

Charles Sheeler Sheeler perfected a method of achieving photographic quality with paint. Accuracy in painting would continue to be his mark, as seen in Steam Turbine. He also transferred his exactness to abstract art.

Steam Turbine 1939 Oil on canvas

Charles Sheeler Sheeler received recognition for both his paintings and his photography, which were made in the clear-focus, highly detailed Precisionist style.

River Rouge Plant 1932

Charles Sheeler A late work, Conversation Piece is nonetheless strongly related in its detached geometry to Sheeler's early Precisionist style. Died 1965

Conversation Piece 1952 Oil on Canvas