Palm Beach Show 2011

Max Weber (American, 1881–1961) The Fisherman, 1919 Gouache on canvas Collection of Deborah and Ed Shein While living in Paris from 1905 to 1909, Weber befriended Pablo Picasso and witnessed firsthand the development of cubism. When the American artist returned home he brought with him the first painting by Picasso to enter the United States. Weber's own painting, too, adopted a cubist style, as seen in the fractured planes, masklike features, and subdued palette of The Fisherman. Too abstract to bear a true likeness, the portrait nevertheless resembles the artist, an avid fish- erman, who smoked a pipe and wore vests and jackets much like those depicted here. John Storrs (American, 1885–1956) Auto Tower, Industrial Forms, ca. 1922 Cast concrete, painted National Gallery of Art, Washington; gift and Promised Gift of Deborah and Ed Shein This sculpture tower, and another nearly identical example in the collection, incorporates the long body of a contemporary luxury touring car turned on its end, transforming a functional, industrial form into an architectural adornment or monument—a totem to American technology. Storrs, a Chicago native and the son of an architect, was knowledgeable about mod- ernist buildings and here embraces the hallmarks of the art deco style: elegant geometry, graphic use of black, and fascination with technology. 19