b. 1883 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, d. 1965 New York City
photographer
American

"My interest in photography, paralleling that in painting, has been based on admiration for its possibility of accounting for the visual world with an exactitude not equaled by any other medium. The difference in the manner of arrival at their destination--the painting being the result of a composite image and the photograph being the result of a single image--prevents these media from being competitive."
--Charles Sheeler

Primarily a painter, Charles Sheeler turned to photography around 1912 in order to make a living. Initially he worked on assignments from Philadelphia architects to photograph their buildings while beginning to exhibit his paintings and photographs. He moved to New York City in 1919 and the next year collaborated with the photographer Paul Strand on a film, Mannahatta, a study of the urban high-rise environment. Sheeler received recognition for both his paintings and his photography, which were made in the clear-focus, highly detailed Precisionist style.