The Pool Artist: Louis Michel Eilshemius (American, 1864–1941)

ca. 1920

American Paintings and Sculpture

Not on view


Louis Michel Eilshemius was a highly eccentric artist who received no critical recognition until renowned French artist Marcel Duchamp became an admirer of his work after discovering it at the first exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists in New York in 1917. Eilshemius’s original approach can be seen in this painting, which at first glance shows a forest scene with a pool. However, a closer inspection reveals that the artist painted over a printed sheet of music, the notes and lyrics of a song visible through the paint.

Medium

Oil on printed sheet of music paper, laid down on laminated chipboard

Dimensions

10 11/16 × 13 5/8 in. (27.1 × 34.6 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Collection Société Anonyme

Accession Number

1941.450

Geography

Possibly made in New York, New York, United States

Culture

American

Period

20th century

Classification

Paintings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Bibliography
  • Stefan Benz, Louis Michel Eilshemius: Peer of Poet-Painters (Zurich: Kunsthalle Marcel Duchamp, 2015), 467, ill
  • Ruth L. Bohan et al., The Société Anonyme: Modernism for America, ed. Jennifer Gross, exh. cat. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Art Gallery, 2006), 90, fig. 18
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

landscapes (representations)

Subject

bodies (animal or human components) trees water woods

Signed

Signed l.r. "Eilshemius"

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

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