| Karl Knaths | ||
| Birth Date: October 21, 1891 |
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| Death Date: March 9, 1971 Artist Gallery |
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| Born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin in 1891, Knaths spent his early life in the Midwest. Chicago, in particular, provided cultural stimulation for the young artist. Knaths became acquainted with the new modernist works from Paris when he saw the Chicago exhibit of the famed Armory Show in 1913. He gained his formal art training at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1912 to 1916. He moved east and eventually settled in Provincetown, Massachusetts in 1919.
By the late 1920s, Knaths had evolved a personal version of the cubist idiom. His designs of varying complexity and texture were typically derived from such subjects as still- lifes and seascapes. People, such as the Museum’s Double Self Portrait, rarely appear in his work.
Beginning about 1930, Knaths systematically selected colors for his palette before beginning the picture. He held that colors, like music, could be organized according to a system of notes. Also, the artist developed a method of color notation. In 1934 he participated in the PWAP (Public Works of Art) program and was one of the original exhibitors with American Abstract Artists in 1937.
Knaths remained in Provincetown throughout his life and died there in 1971.
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