A mile and a half from the hospital where I was born, is the Lancaster, PA home of Charles Demuth. He was a successful Modernist who was playing with the big time artists in New York City (at the time of Alfred Stieglitz) and Paris (at the time of Gertrude Stein). Demuth lived in this brick house with his family since he was six, in the late 1800's.
Demuth was proficient in a range of styles and media, but was probably most famous for his precisionists paintings like "My Egypt" and "I Saw the Figure in Gold" (1928) based on the William Carlos William's poem "The Great Figure" of 1921.
There is a gallery downstairs where local artists were having an exhibit, and a room with a short documentary about Charles Demuth playing on loop, but my favorite part was his studio upstairs, where he made 1,000 paintings and drawings. His 100 year old art supplies are still there, ready to be resurrected. And on the wall, is a small Georgia O'Keefe painting, gifted to him by the artist herself. She thought she was the most fun of the contemporary artists. Next door is the Tabacco shop, which was a Demuth family business since the 1700's. Charles decided to do his own thing, but it's fun to get a feel for how his parents and grandparents made their living.
It doesn't take long to drop in on this little treasure while exploring Pennsylvania Dutch Country.
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