Carl Kahler [b. 1894: Chicago, IL d. 1980: Sarasota County, Florida]
watercolor and gouache on paper
14 1/4 by 20 1/4 inches
Works Progress Administration/Federal Art Project Allocation
Collection of the Illinois State Museum
Carl Kahler is but one of a number of artists who lived in Illinois during the Great Depression and were supported by the Works Progress Administration. According to Federal Art Project records he was living at 945 Crescent Place in Chicago and working as an artist in 1930. This untitled study from 1939 successfully demonstrates a driving interest in the art of the early twentieth century: how to communicate the exhilaration of speed and the muscle of mechanical movement in a still image?
Harnessing repetitive diagonal line as a primary compositional device is one way artists can create a sense of movement and motion.