Charles W. Duncan (1887–1970) was an American

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

painter in the circle of artists that gathered around the photographer and art promoter Alfred Stieglitz. He is now known primarily as the subject of one of Charles Demuth's famous poster portraits.

Biography

Born in New York City to Mary Dolan and William Henry Duncan, Charles Duncan was described in the July 1914 issue of

Camera Work ''Camera Work'' was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It presented high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world, with the goal to establish photography as a ...

as being “a sign painter and painter.” His Social Security application in 1936 states that he was then employed by the General Outdoor Advertising Company in the Bronx, New York. However, letters that Duncan donated to the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

upon the death of his close friend, John Marin, indicate that Duncan was active as a painter until at least the late 1940s. Alfred Stieglitz was a supporter of Duncan's work. He presented Duncan's artworks to the public at his gallery, named

291 __NOTOC__ Year 291 ( CCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tiberianus and Dio (or, less frequently, year 1044 ''A ...

, from May to July 1916. Duncan was among Stieglitz's friends whom he invited to write articles discussing what 291 meant to them for the July 1914 issue of Camera Work. It was Duncan who introduced

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

to Stieglitz. Duncan helped Duchamp procure the infamous

urinal A urinal (, ) is a sanitary plumbing fixture for urination only. Urinals are often provided in public toilets for male users in Western countries (less so in Muslim countries). They are usually used in a standing position. Urinals can be ...

submitted as

Fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

to the exhibition of the

Society of Independent Artists Society of Independent Artists was an association of American artists founded in 1916 and based in New York. Background Based on the French Société des Artistes Indépendants, the goal of the society was to hold annual exhibitions by avant-gard ...

in 1917 and contributed a poem to Duchamp's short-lived

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 1920 Dada flourished in Pari ...

ist magazine,

The Blind Man ''The Blind Man'' was an art and Dada journal published briefly by the New York Dadaists in 1917. History Henri-Pierre Roché and Marcel Duchamp, visiting from France, organized the magazine with Beatrice Wood in New York City. Mina Loy also c ...

. Between 1921 and 1924, five of Duncan's paintings were displayed as part of the Independents Exhibition. Correspondence found in 1998 reveals a long-running romantic relationship between Duncan and another avant-garde artist of the Stieglitz circle, Edith Clifford Williams. This relationship may well be the theme of Demuth's cryptic poster portrait, with the top half representing the off-kilter Duncan and the bottom half representing the proper yet passionate Clifford. Duncan's only known surviving works in a public collections are an untitled abstract painting held by the

Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

and ''Abstraction-Landscape'' in The Alfred Stieglitz Collection, co-owned by Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee, and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duncan, Charles 1887 births 1970 deaths Painters from New York City