What type of abstraction is used in Charles Demuth's 'I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold'?

What type of abstraction is used in Charles Demuth's 'I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold'?

• A. Geometric abstraction
• B. Abstract expressionism
• C. Minimalist abstraction
• D. Color-field abstraction

Answer: (A)

The painting uses geometric abstraction, built from precise, machine-like shapes and flat planes rather than painterly brushwork or expressive marks. In Demuth’s work, the figure and surrounding forms are rendered as clean, hard-edged blocks—rectangles and bars—that align into a composed whole without modeling light or depth. This emphasis on exact geometry and a streamlined, city- or industry-focused subject is characteristic of Precisionism, a American modernist tendency within geometric abstraction. Other approaches would rely on sweeping gestures, minimal simplified forms without recognizable subjects, or large fields of color with little structural detail, which isn’t what you see here. So the abstraction is geometric, using sharp shapes to convey the figure and scene.

The painting uses geometric abstraction, built from precise, machine-like shapes and flat planes rather than painterly brushwork or expressive marks. In Demuth’s work, the figure and surrounding forms are rendered as clean, hard-edged blocks—rectangles and bars—that align into a composed whole without modeling light or depth. This emphasis on exact geometry and a streamlined, city- or industry-focused subject is characteristic of Precisionism, a American modernist tendency within geometric abstraction. Other approaches would rely on sweeping gestures, minimal simplified forms without recognizable subjects, or large fields of color with little structural detail, which isn’t what you see here. So the abstraction is geometric, using sharp shapes to convey the figure and scene.