Featuring important paintings from two East Coast collections, Sommer in Winter casts a spotlight on the remarkable career of William Sommer (1867-1949). The undisputed champion of early Cleveland School Modernism, Sommer remains a highly celebrated figure among scholars and collectors of regional art. Highlights of the exhibition are a number landscapes depicting Brandywine, Ohio—Brandywine Country, ca. 1920 and Houses by the Roadside, Brandywine, ca. 1940 stand out as particularly compelling examples—in which Sommer interprets traditional, even mundane subject matter through a Modernist lens, saturating the sprawling hills of Brandywine, Ohio with Fauve-like color and altering the natural landscape to create enchanting distortions in perspective.
William Sommer (American, 1867–1949) Seated Child (Portrait of Tess Dominski), c. 1926
William Sommer (American, 1867–1949) Brandywine Landscape With Goats, 1943
William Sommer (American, 1867–1949) Seated Nude, ca. 1918
William Sommer (American, 1867–1949) Woman with Striped Stockings, ca. 1918
William Sommer (American, 1867–1949) Mazda Study, ca. 1930