Manierre Dawson, Differential Complex, 1910
Manierre Dawson (American, 1887-1969)
Differential Complex, 1910
Oil on board, 40.7 x 31.8 cm (16 x 12 1/2 in.)
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 2001.123
There’s a good argument that Manierre Dawson was the world’s first abstract painting. In early spring of 1910, in Chicago, he produced a series of abstractions that precede the first abstractions of Wassily Kandinsky and Arthur Dove, the two other major claimants for the title of “First Abstract Painter.” Many people don’t even know of Dawson’s existence, but this came up shortly after I had written a major essay about his work for the Hollis Taggart Galleries in New York. The best-known of Dawson’s early abstractions is a painting titled Prognostic in the Milwaukee Art Museum. This one is probably just a little earlier. By Cleveland standards, this was an inexpensive purchase but I think it’s one of the most remarkable paintings in the museum.
Bibliography
Henry Adams, What’s American about American Art? A Gallery Tour of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Hudson Hills Press, New York, 2008, pp. 118-119.
Henry Adams, “The First Abstract Painter,” in Manierre Dawson, Hollis Taggart Galleries, October 1999, pp. 10-57.