Dove, Arthur Garfield (1880-1946), was one of the earliest abstract painters in the United States. He created his first symbolic abstract pictures of nature in 1910, long before abstract art was common in America. Most of his compositions involve subjects drawn from nature and landscape. Dove’s abstract designs, generally small in size, emphasized areas of solid color, often earthy in tone. During the 1920’s, he also made collaged constructions (see Collage).
Dove was born on Aug. 2, 1880, in Canandaigua, New York, and gained early success as a magazine illustrator. From 1908 to 1909, he lived in Paris, where he absorbed the influences of the new art movements. He died on Nov. 23, 1946. Dove’s work never achieved popularity in his lifetime in spite of the support of photographer Alfred Stieglitz and art collector and patron Duncan Phillips. Today, Dove is recognized as a pioneer in modern American art.
