My Egypt
Charles Demuth
CHARLES DEMUTH, 1927. OIL, CHALK, AND GRAPHITE ON BOARD.
Bedridden and ailing, succumbing to the diabetes that would eventually kill him, Charles Demote painted an impassioned portrait of American success, and alluded to the destruction that lied within it. This work is of a concrete and steel grain elevator in his hometown in Pennsylvania, and one cannot ignore the majesty in which he depicts it. Looking from below, the tops of roofs barely visible, it rises across the canvas like a monument of wonder, sharp geometric lines crossing it like beams of sun that celebrate its glory. The industrial agriculture was a modern marvel, a testament to development and power, and Demuth’s decision to name the work ‘My Egypt’ asks us to consider these seemingly mundane works as modern pyramids, testaments to our human majesty. Yet, the pyramids of Egypt not only serve as signals, but also as resting places and their construction was plagued by death, slavery, and hardship. So the humble grain elevator takes on a duality - an object of admiration but not an uncomplicated one, and the artists impending mortality becomes more overt when understood in this way.