James Henry Daugherty
American, 1889 - 1974
Among the early American modernists, James Daugherty was one of the first exponents of abstract color painting.
Inspired by the work of the American Synchromists, especially Arthur B. Frost, Jr., Morgan Russell, and Stanton Macdonald-Wright, as well as by the Orphic Cubism of the Parisian painters Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Daugherty came to view pure color and abstract design as the most effective means to create dynamic and provocative works of art. Daugherty's chromatic abstractions, produced from about 1915 until 1922, influenced a number of younger painters, especially Jay Van Everen.
Daugherty was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He worked in a Futurist manner until late 1914 or early 1915, when he came under the influence of Frost and the Delaunays and began to explore the use of pure color in conjunction with abstract design. He soon developed a style consisting of highly complex arrangements of strips, segments, and circles of color. In the 1920s Daugherty responded to the call for indigenous subject matter by adopting a more figurative style while retaining his former emphasis on vibrant color. Toward the end of his life, Daugherty produced a series of abstract color paintings reminiscent of his work from the 1910s.
Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton
Inspired by the work of the American Synchromists, especially Arthur B. Frost, Jr., Morgan Russell, and Stanton Macdonald-Wright, as well as by the Orphic Cubism of the Parisian painters Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Daugherty came to view pure color and abstract design as the most effective means to create dynamic and provocative works of art. Daugherty's chromatic abstractions, produced from about 1915 until 1922, influenced a number of younger painters, especially Jay Van Everen.
Daugherty was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. He worked in a Futurist manner until late 1914 or early 1915, when he came under the influence of Frost and the Delaunays and began to explore the use of pure color in conjunction with abstract design. He soon developed a style consisting of highly complex arrangements of strips, segments, and circles of color. In the 1920s Daugherty responded to the call for indigenous subject matter by adopting a more figurative style while retaining his former emphasis on vibrant color. Toward the end of his life, Daugherty produced a series of abstract color paintings reminiscent of his work from the 1910s.
Biography courtesy of Roughton Galleries, www.antiquesandfineart.com/roughton
