William Sommer is seen as a key person in bringing European modernism to Northeast Ohio. He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and in his youth apprenticed for seven years to a lithographer.
He briefly studied at an art academy in Germany and then worked as a lithographer in New York before moving to Cleveland, where he was awarded a major contract with the Otis Lithography Company. There he became friends with sculptor and painter William Zorach, and the two, determined to be fine artists, began painting together on weekends. They also became intrigued by avant-garde movements, especially after Zorach's trip to Paris in 1910.
In 1911, Sommer co-founded a group in Cleveland called the Kokoon Club, a mixed group of commercial artists and radical modernists who sought the freedom to pursue their independent tendencies. They converted a tailor's shop into a studio and held exhibitions and lectures and organized an annual masked ball that became the focus of Cleveland's bohemian life.
In 1913, he and his colleagues began painting at Brandywine, about 30 miles south of Cleveland and made a school house into a studio. They devoted increasing time to watercolor painting because they could work spontaneously and it would dry quickly. Rejecting the conventional ideas of beauty, they strove for the expression of emotion and spontaneity and fantasy. One of Sommer's most successful students was Charles Burchfield.
As he was perfecting his mature style, he had financial difficulties because he made his living from commercial lithography, which was becoming obsolete, and the Depression was hitting the nation causing him to lose his job. He became a WPA artist, doing murals in northeastern Ohio.
After his death at age 82, he was largely forgotten until 1980 when Hilton Kramer, a "New York Times" critic, praised his work. In May to July, 1994, the Ohio Arts Council held a retrospective of his work at the Riffe Gallery in Columbus. His work is found in many public collections including the National Museum of American Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Works by William Sommer
Tyrannus, c. 1935 William Sommer
The Tower, Rocky River, c. 1912 William Sommer
Fauvist Landscape, ca. 1912 William Sommer
The Crane Fountain, c. 1914-15 William Sommer
Spring Beauty, c. 1920 William Sommer
Cows, c. 1920 William Sommer
Two Cows William Sommer
Tiger Boy, c. 1925 William Sommer
Portrait of June, 1928 William Sommer
Houses and Trees William Sommer
A Monument to Bondage William Sommer
Adam & Eve William Sommer
The Band William Sommer
Nude with Umbrella & Figures, 1934 William Sommer
Seated Nude, ca. 1918 William Sommer
Seated Child (Portrait of Tess Dominski), c. 1926 William Sommer
Small Boy with Apples, c. 1930 William Sommer
Marvin Holding Pencil, c. 1932 William Sommer
Calculation in Blue and Brown (Portrait of Arthur Timm), 1933 William Sommer
Tired Feet (Portrait of Tess Dominski), c. 1935 William Sommer
Boy in Yellow Sweater, c. 1935 William Sommer
The Little Artist, c. 1936 William Sommer
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Still Life with Vase William Sommer
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Three Graces, 1911 William Sommer
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Incantation, c. 1915 William Sommer
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Landscape with Soft Hills, c. 1915 William Sommer
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Bathers in Moonlight, c. 1916 William Sommer
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Tess With Apples, c. 1930 William Sommer
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Boy Eating an Apple William Sommer
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Interior Scene with Man Reading, 1898 William Sommer
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Interior with Boy, c. 1910 William Sommer
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Cart with Horse and Rider William Sommer
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Horses at Moonlight William Sommer
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Adam and Eve at Sunset William Sommer
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Portrait, 1910 William Sommer
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Study for ‘Houses and Pink Clouds’, Lakewood, ca. 1912 William Sommer
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Houses and Pink Clouds, Lakewood, ca 1912 William Sommer
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The Japanese Bridge, c. 1913 William Sommer
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Seated Female William Sommer
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Adam and Eve, c. 1915 William Sommer
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Woman with Striped Stockings, ca. 1918 William Sommer
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Brandywine Landscape I, ca. 1918 William Sommer
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Two Heads I William Sommer
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Plowing, c. 1920 William Sommer
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Brandywine Country, ca. 1920 William Sommer
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Winter, Brandywine William Sommer
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Figures William Sommer
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Man in Top Hat William Sommer
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Standing Nude, c. 1920 William Sommer
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House and Tree William Sommer
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Horse and Covered Cart in Town, 1921 William Sommer
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Fire Worshippers, 1921 William Sommer
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Cubist Houses, ca. 1923-24 William Sommer
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Green Eyed Girl (Portrait of Tess Dominski), c. 1924 William Sommer
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Cow in Landscape, 1925 William Sommer
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Summer Day, ca. 1925 William Sommer
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Portrait of Mrs. Sommer, ca. 1925 William Sommer
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Portrait of a Woman I, ca. 1925 William Sommer
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The Plaid Jacket, c. 1929 William Sommer
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Seated Boy, c. 1930 William Sommer
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Uphill Climb, ca. 1930 William Sommer
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The Spinach Tree, ca. 1930 William Sommer
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Brandywine Landscape, 1935 William Sommer
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Ornamentique, 1936 William Sommer
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Brandywine Landscape , 1936 William Sommer
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William Sommer - Horse and Rider, c.1940 William Sommer
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Houses by the Roadside, Brandywine, ca. 1940 William Sommer
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Horse in a Field William Sommer
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Young Boy Seated at Table, 1940 William Sommer
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Musing Girl, c. 1940 William Sommer
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Self-Portrait William Sommer
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Girl in a Red Fez, c. 1941 William Sommer
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Girl in Green Coat, 1941 William Sommer
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Brandywine Landscape With Goats, 1943 William Sommer
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Brandywine Landscape with Goats and Chickens, 1943 William Sommer
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Green Apples, 1943 - SOLD William Sommer
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Purple Barn, Brandywine, 1944 William Sommer
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Portrait of a Woman, c.1920 William Sommer
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Man Lounging William Sommer
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The Spinach Tree William Sommer
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Nude William Sommer
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Study for ‘Horse and Covered Cart in Town’, ca. 1918-19 William Sommer
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Lakewood Houses William Sommer
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Brandywine Study, c. 1925 William Sommer
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George in Yellow Jacket, 1926 William Sommer
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It's Me (Portrait of Robert Kulesa), c. 1930 William Sommer
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Boy in Blue Overalls, c. 1930 William Sommer
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Boy with Dog, c. 1930s William Sommer
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The Blue Shirt, c. 1934 William Sommer
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Famous Boy, c. 1935 William Sommer
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Teenage Girl, 1939 William Sommer
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Sketches of Cows William Sommer
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Sketches of Horses William Sommer