Alfred Henry Maurer

Alfred Maurer was one of the earliest American painters to embrace European Modernism. The son of well-known illustrator Louis Maurer, in 1884 he enrolled at the National Academy of Design. His initial style fused Realism with Impressionism, its dark tones and painterly brushwork reflecting the influence of James McNeil Whistler and William Merritt Chase. However, his years spent in Paris between 1897 and 1914 signalled a dramatic shift in direction. Embraced by Gertrude Stein and her avant-garde artistic circle, Maurer became captivated by the work of Henri Matisse. He broke free from his conservative beginnings by adopting the bright colours, stylized forms and aggressive brush marks of the Fauves, as well as absorbing the lessons of Cubism. After exhibiting at the seminal 1913 Armoury Show in New York, he continued his aesthetic experiments back in America, pushing towards full abstraction. Shortly after his father’s death, he committed suicide in 1932.