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...And the Home of the Brave

A work made of oil and graphite on fiber board.

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  • A work made of oil and graphite on fiber board.

Date:

1931

Artist:

Charles Demuth
American, 1883–1935

About this artwork

Charles Demuth here portrayed a cigar factory using a sharply linear, planar style inspired by streamlined machinery. The building was part of the industrial landscape in his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, which Demuth began depicting with increasing monumentality in the last years of his life. Although he presented the factory with no reference to the potentially detrimental effects of industrialization, the painting expresses some irony or ambivalence. Demuth drew the title from the last line of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” which was adopted as the United States national anthem the year he painted this work, thus implying that for many workers, the factory was the new “home of the brave.”

Status

On View, Gallery 265

Department

Arts of the Americas

Artist

Charles Demuth

Title

...And the Home of the Brave

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1931

Medium

Oil and graphite on fiber board

Dimensions

74.8 × 59.7 cm (29 1/2 × 23 1/2 in.)

Credit Line

Alfred Stieglitz Collection, gift of Georgia O'Keeffe

Reference Number

1948.650

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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