Douglas W. Gorsline (1913–1985) was an American painter and writer. He started out as a painter of social realism, though his more mature style was influenced by

cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, and photographers of movement such as

Étienne-Jules Marey Étienne-Jules Marey (; 5 March 1830, Beaune, Côte-d'Or – 15 May 1904, Paris) was a French scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer. His work was significant in the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, cinema ...

and

Edweard Muybridge Eadweard Muybridge (; 9 April 1830 – 8 May 1904, born Edward James Muggeridge) was an English photographer known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection. He adopted the first ...

. He worked in many media, including lithography, painting, and etching. He was an illustrator as well as a painter, and wrote and illustrated several children's books, an illustrated history of costume, as well as an edition of

Thomas Wolfe Thomas Clayton Wolfe (October 3, 1900 – September 15, 1938) was an American novelist of the early 20th century. Wolfe wrote four lengthy novels as well as many short stories, dramatic works, and novellas. He is known for mixing highly origin ...

's Look Homeward, Angel, and his own novel, Farm Boy.Douglas Gorsline
at Sullivan Goss, Ltd.

Life

Douglas Gorsline who was born in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

. He attended the Rochester School of Technology, the

Yale School of Art The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...

and the

Art Students League of New York The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

. He taught at the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the fin ...

in New York City before moving to France in 1964. He was the first American artist invited to China (1973). His work was exhibited regularly in the United States and in France, Belgium and Germany. He received a great many awards and his works are in several museums, as well as institutional and private collections. He was elected into the

in 1943 as an Associate member, and became a full Academician in 1947. The Gorsline Museum was created by his widow, Marie Gorsline, and inaugurated in 1994, nine years after his death, at

Bussy-le-Grand Bussy-le-Grand () is a commune in the Côte-d'Or department in eastern France. Population Personalities Jean-Andoche Junot, a general under Napoleon was born in the village. The Château de Bussy-Rabutin, home of the 17th-century courtier ...

, in

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or (; literally, "Golden Slope") is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Style

Gorsline’s technique and sources derive from certain elements of

and

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *Classical Realism *Literary realism, a move ...

. He often uses cubist composition as a means of approaching the real.

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 ...

had a strong effect on him because he joined the idea of movement to the concepts of cubism — as in the ''

Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2 ''Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2'' (French: ''Nu descendant un escalier n° 2'') is a 1912 painting by Marcel Duchamp. The work is widely regarded as a Modernist classic and has become one of the most famous of its time. Before its first pres ...

''. It is of note that both Gorsline and Duchamp were inspired by the

chronophotography Chronophotography is a photographic technique from the Victorian era which captures a number of phases of movements. The best known chronophotography works were mostly intended for the scientific study of locomotion, to discover practical informa ...

who in order to fulfill his scientific pursuits invented cameras and methods to decompose movement. While other schools of art seemed to concentrate on playing with reality in displaced or symbolic ways, Gorsline sought a solution that allowed his subjects their true actuality, their true features — all the more true in that they are seen in a state of movement. Technical and emotional values are joined in each canvas. Meanwhile one can see the expression of a sequential simultaneity, a succession of realities, which coexist, in our lives and in the world at large.

Books

Books that Douglas Gorsline wrote and/or illustrated: *''Viking Adventure'', by Clyde Robert Bulla, *''Farm Boy'', by Douglas Gorsline, * ''What People Wore: 1,800 Illustrations from Ancient Times to the Early Twentieth Century'', * ''The Night Before Christmas'', by Clement Clarke Moore, * ''The Pioneers'', by Marie Gorsline, * ''Haunted Bookshop'', by Christopher Morley, * ''Cowboys'', by Marie Gorsline, * ''North American Indians'', by Marie Gorsline, * ''Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers'', by Burke Davis, * ''The Vicksburg Veteran'', by F. N. Monjo,

References

External links

Gorsline Museum

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorsline, Douglas 20th-century American painters American male painters Art Students League of New York alumni 1913 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American male artists