The Puzzled Co

Ya’ll going to Nationals?! Come out and play with us at the 2026 USA Jigsaw Nationals in Atlanta hosted by . Gabe will be in the Exhibitor Hall selling Waterjet cut art puzzles: waterproof, wood and magnetic as well some limited edition stone puzzles that will premiere at the event. 🧩Stop by for FREE mini puzzles for your swag bag🧩. Have you ever puzzled blindfolded? Try assembling a tactile puzzle at our casual puzzling table. Look for white balloons :) Looking forward to seeing all our puzzle friends!.

Feeling like a waterjet cut Thundershower Puzzle kinda day. Yup, that means this puzzle is also waterproof and can be assembled in the rain or in the shower! Thanks to our friend for the pics.

In the early 1900s, H. Lyman Saÿen was an engineer and inventor in Philadelphia known for his work on the first X-ray machine. After studying painting in the U.S., he went on to learn from Matisse in Paris and joined Gertrude Stein’s circle. His curiosity can be seen in this collage-like study for one of his final paintings The Thundershower. In this work, two figures move fluidly like the frames of a filmstrip with a European Cubist-like approach contrasted by bold patterns influenced by the pottery and textile designs of the Indigenous communities in Pennsylvania. Saÿen died in his early 40s at the brink of the Machine Age and before the impact of his work could really take root in the history of art.

In 1970, art critic Hilton Kramer, The New York Times, responded to seeing Saÿen‘s work for the first time:

“The history of European and American avant garde in the early years of this century is so familiar to us in the routine chronologies of museum collections, art books and college courses that we tend, mistakenly, to believe there are no more discoveries to be made. And then, out of the blue, we are obliged to confront a new name, a new career and a new oeuvre of whose existence we had never had an inkling.”

Artwork: The Thundershower (study for painting) by H. Lyman Saÿen, ca. 1917-1918. Tempera, pencil, and printed paper on paperboard. Courtesy Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of H. Lyman Sayen to his nation; photo courtesy Smithsonian Open Access, CC0.