Dove's father named him after two Republican presidential candidates, James Garfield and Chester Arthur, which tells you something about the household. Arthur Garfield Dove grew up in upstate New York, graduated from Cornell in 1903, and spent several years as a magazine illustrator for Scribner's, Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post. He was good at it. He quit anyway.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1880–1946, American
- Movements
- Works held in
- 28 museums[1]
Biography
An extended stay in Paris between 1907 and 1909 brought him into contact with Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso. He came back to America and began making abstract paintings before almost anyone else in the country. In 1912 Alfred Stieglitz gave him a solo show at Gallery 291: a group of pastels known as The Ten Commandments. It was the first public exhibition of abstract art by an American.
He called his method extraction: pulling the essential forms out of a natural scene, reducing a landscape or a thunderstorm to its structural core. The paintings look organic, warm, and slightly musical, as though the shapes are vibrating. They are based on nature but they do not depict nature. They describe the feeling of being inside it.
He and Stieglitz maintained a friendship for thirty years. Dove was quiet and gentle. Stieglitz was argumentative and shrewd. They agreed that art should embody spiritual values rather than material ones, which is an easier principle to hold when someone else is paying the rent.
In his final years, kidney disease and repeated heart attacks made painting impossible without help. His wife Helen (known as Reds), herself an artist, guided the brush for him. After he died in 1946, she never painted again.
Timeline
- 1880Born
- 1925Painted “Long Island”
- 1929Painted “Silver Tanks”
- 1929Painted “Silver Sun”
- 1935Painted “Reflections”
- 1940Painted “Black and White”
- 1946Died
Notable Works
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Where to See Arthur Dove
10 museums worldwide.
-
35 works
National Gallery of Art
Washington, D.C., United States
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8 works
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Old Patent Office Building, United States
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7 works
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Bentonville, United States
Related Artists
Frequently Asked Questions
What did arthur dove borrow from european modernists?
Arthur Dove came into contact with Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso during an extended stay in Paris between 1907 and 1909. These artists influenced his later work.What is special about dove?
Dove's method was what he called extraction; he would pull the essential forms out of a natural scene. He reduced a thunderstorm or a landscape to its structural core.What was arthur dove's contribution to art history?
Arthur Garfield Dove had the first public exhibition of abstract art by an American. This exhibition, held in 1912 at Gallery 291, was a group of pastels known as The Ten Commandments.Who was arthur dove?
Arthur Garfield Dove was an American artist who spent several years as a magazine illustrator before becoming a painter. He is known for creating abstract paintings based on nature.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Arthur Dove.
- [1] museum Buffalo AKG Art Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [2] museum Museum of Fine Arts Boston Used for: museum holdings.
- [3] museum Princeton Art Museum Used for: museum holdings.
- [4] museum Corcoran Gallery of Art Used for: museum holdings.
- [5] museum National Gallery of Art Used for: museum holdings.
- [6] museum Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Used for: museum holdings.
- [7] book guggenheim-arshi00wald Used for: biography.
- [8] book guggenheim-artoftomorrowfif1939gugg Used for: biography.
- [9] book guggenheim-masterp00solo Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-05-17. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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