The Open Window
1914
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
About the artist
Artist
Edward Wadsworth
Edward Alexander Wadsworth was an English artist initially associated with the Vorticism movement.
See the richer artist page1914
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
The Open Window is a 1914 by Edward Wadsworth, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a dark room lit by a window. Outside, a city glows at night. The walls and floor are covered in sharp squares of color like a chessboard. Wadsworth turned this scene into patterns. He used ideas from woodcuts, where colors change meaning. This version is mostly blue and orange. Check out his print called "Dryad" at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
Open Window was inspired by Robert Delaunay's 1911 painting La Ville (The City). Like Delaunay, Wadsworth rendered a view over a city at night, but made the checkered patterning-which unites an array of motifs in the painted scene-the theme of his work. Wadsworth liked the possibilities woodcut gave him to explore complete changes of meaning through different color permutations. There are six versions of Open Window with various color combinations.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Edward Alexander Wadsworth was an English artist initially associated with the Vorticism movement.
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