Auditory

DEFINITION

Having to do with hearing.Example of visual art suggesting auditory qualities: Charles Demuth (American, 1883-1935), The Figure 5 in Gold, 1928, oil on cardboard, 35 1/2 x 30 inches (90.2 x 76.2 cm), Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. In the 1920's Demuth produced a series of poster-portraits honoring his contemporaries, inspired by Gertrude Stein's word-portraits. The Figure 5 in Gold is the most accomplished of the group. It was dedicated to the artist's friend William Carlos Williams, the American poet whose "The Great Figure" inspired the painting's title and imagery. Demuth's painting, however, is not a representational illustration of the poem but rather an abstract impression of the No. 5 fire engine clanging through the lamp-lit streets of the darkened, rainy city. Scattered words and initials refer to the artist and the poet. See figure and text.