User:Petropoxy (Lithoderm Proxy)/I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold

I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold is a 1928 oil painting by Charles Demuth in the Precisionist style. The painting is a "poster portrait" of the poet William Carlos Williams, whose poem "The Great Figure" inspired its imagery and gave it its title. In this work Demuth synthesized influences from European avant-garde movements such as cubism and futurism to create an abstract painting that wholly American in its scale and impact. In its poster-like boldness and monumentalization of everyday subject matter, I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold prefigures American Pop Art thirty years before it emerged as a movement. It is considered one of Charles Demuth's greatest works, and would prove an especially strong influence on Jasper Johns and Robert Indiana, both of whom produced works based upon it.