Dove, Arthur Garfield

Dove, Arthur Garfield (1880-1946), American painter. He is considered one of the first American abstract artists, although his early paintings were rarely completely abstract; they were usually based on natural shapes such as leaves or clouds. In his later career Dove painted in two different styles, producing both complete abstractions—often severely geometrical in form—and surreal fantasies, such as Rise of the Full Moon (1937, Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.), in which the landscape is transformed into a cyclops with the Moon for an eye.