Arthur Dove was an American artist and early abstract painter. Best known for his Modernist landscapes and abstract compositions, he provided a contemporary view of American life at the turn of the 20th century that focused on the spiritual aspect of daily existence. “We cannot express the light in nature because we have not the sun,” he once declared. “We can only express the light we have in ourselves.” Sometimes credited as the first American abstract painter, Dove was born on August 2, 1880 in Canandaigua, NY. He spent his early life in the outdoors of small-town America, instilling him with a love for nature that prevailed through his later work. After graduating from Cornell University in 1903 in Ithica, Dove took a job as a commercial illustrator in New York City and produced work for both Harper’s magazine and the Saturday Evening Post. The artist subsequently moved to Paris, France in 1907, where he first made contact with European Modernism and was inspired by the Fauvist work of Henri Matisse. Dove’s worldview shifted course, and by the time he returned to the United States, his interest in nature and art—along with newfound connection with the important photographer and curator Alfred Stieglitz—drove Dove to produce the work he is best recognized for today. Dove died on November 23, 1946 in Long Island, NY and his work can be found among the most prominent collections in the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
