A stylized portrait by Cummings of Marion Morehouse, renowned New York model and Cummings' third wife -- and a frequent subject of the artist's work. Cummings, one of the best-loved American poets of the 20th century, was also a prolific visual artist: he considered writing and painting to be his "twin obsessions," and he exhibited his work in the annual Society of Independent Artists shows from 1916-1927 and was the art editor of the Dial magazine, the pre-eminent Modernist literary journal in the U.S., in the 1920s. In 1933 he published a book of his artwork in a limited edition. Called CIOPW, it took its title from the media he used in his art: charcoal, ink, oil, pencil and watercolors. In his early years he emphasized abstract painting; from the 1930s on he tended toward representational images, albeit with a range of inventive palettes, as this painting shows, and which some have compared to his inventiveness with words and poetic forms and structures. 9" x 11-1/4", oil on cardboard. In fact, this is painted on the underside of the top of a box that held typewriter paper -- a linking of his twin obsessions. Undated. Edges a bit chipped, with a couple of creases but very good condition overall. [#029553] SOLD