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Artistic Analysis of I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (1928)

By Charles Demuth 

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Williams, in "The Great Figure," writes of hearing the clatter of a fire engine on a

stormy night in Manhattan. If you go to Marsden Hartley's 15th Street studio and look at his

painting "The Figure 5" you will have the same vantage point as when Williams first saw it.

Charles Demuth's painting 'I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold (1928)' portrays five colors that are repeated in

a grid-like pattern. The five colors are yellow, green, orange, red, and blue. Each color is used to

create a shape to make up the entire picture. The form of this piece is geometric shapes created

with colors.

Demuth organized his work around basic shapes, such as the red truck, the black high-

rises, the bright white street lighting, and of course the dazzling gold 5s, three in full plus the

curve of one, very near in the top right hand corner. It has been written that the numerals are

becoming smaller as the truck gets farther away, yet in my mind they have always seemed to

be getting larger(Demuth, C. (1949).. Demuth's diagonal lines, which serve to illuminate and

evoke rain, crisscross these components. He contrasted the squareness of the structures with

the roundness of the fives and the globe lights.

Demuth sprinkling these themes with three typographical nods to Williams.Sounds and

visuals of a fire truck racing down the street are conjured up by The Great Figure. The picture

has a lively, urban energy thanks to the crisscrossing lines, repeating "5", rounded numerals,

lighting, street lamp, and blasting sirens of the red fire engine.

In general, the picture creates the impression of a lively story in motion, which is appropriate

given that the key word in Williams' poem is "moving." This vitality is what sets "The Figure

5" apart from other paintings by Hartley and Stuart Davis, both of whom employ symbols

and insignia to represent men.

References
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Demuth, C. (1949). I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold, 1928. Oil, graphite, Ink and gold leaf on paperboard.

Photo courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art (Alfred Stieglitz Collection, 1949), 60.