Not Just a Poet, but a Painter Too!

Edward Estlin (E.E.) Cummings was born in October of 1894 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and passed away in September of 1962, at the age of 65.  Cummings is most famous for his poetry, which he began writing at only 10 years of age.

Cummings was a unique poet of his time period, veering from the traditional forms of 20th century poetry and experimenting a lot with unusual typography (alteration of the traditional capitalization, punctuation, appearance, and form).  He eventually settled into his own unique style of poetry though and became very popular for his poets about war and sex, consisting of simple, easy to understand language.

Cummings was not just a poet, but a widely praised painter also.  His paintings actually reflect his style of poetry in a way.  Just looking a a piece of his artwork, it seems as if he pictures a certain scene, then adds vibrance and life and emotion to it by distorting what the would "normally" look like.


The painting below is called "Fantastic Sunset." Being an abstract piece of art, it is hard to say this is a painting of a sunset just by looking at it.  Cummings adds a twist to his art in order to convey his feelings about a certain scene or moment in time.  He uses very vivid colors and a puts a sort of twisting, windy movement to this particular painting, possibly conveying some happiness mixed with confusion.

"Fantastic Sunset" by E.E. Cummings

There were a number of people who loved Cummings's poetry but did not think his paintings lived up to the same standards.  Cummings pushed the boundaries and veered a lot from traditional ways of painting and writing.  He still however gained much respect and became very famous, mostly for his poetry.


The video below is a slideshow of some of E.E. Cummings's famous paintings accompanied by music.



SOURCES:
http://www.dailyartfixx.com/tag/e-e-cummings/
http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/156
http://www.artsofinnovation.com/cummings.html
http://eecummingsart.com/prosp/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5jQKwiVr1A