2013 First-Class Forever Stamp,Modern Art in America: Arthur Dove's "Foghorns"

U.S. #4758l

2013 46¢ Arthur Dove

Modern Art in America

Issue Date: March 7, 2013
City: New York, NY

Quantity: 1,950,000
Printed By: Avery Dennison
Printing Method: Photogravure
Perforations: Serpentine Die Cut 10 1/2
Color: multicolored

Arthur Dove’s painting Foghorns is one of 12 featured on the Modern Art in America: 1913-1931 stamp sheet.

Inspired mostly by nature and local landscapes, Arthur Dove was a leading figure in the early modern art movement, creating the first known piece of totally abstract art in the country.

Despite his family’s wishes that he undertake a career in business, Dove (1880-1946) was compelled to be an artist. Early in his career, Dove was a popular illustrator, celebrated for his realistic drawings in Harper’s Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post. However, once he went to Europe and saw the works of Henri Matisse, he found a new direction for his art. 

One idea that particularly interested Dove was the parallel relationship between the visual arts and music. In several pieces, he attempted to paint the sounds of the scene. For instance, his Fog Horns gives the viewer the feeling they are seeing the blaring sound of fog horns through the misty air.

Dove believed that art should convey modern spiritual values and not materialism or tradition. He developed an abstract style he called “extraction.” Some of the early works he created in this style, known as “The Ten Commandments,” were displayed in 1912, marking the first exhibition of abstract art in America. Dove’s knack for stripping natural forms down to their most essential parts quickly made him a major leader in international art.