Davis, Stuart

Davis, Stuart (1894-1964). American painter.

He grew up in an artistic environment, for his father was art director of a Philadelphia newspaper, who had employed Luks, Glackens, and other members of the Eight. He studied with Robert Henri 1910-13, made covers and drawings for the social realist periodical The Masses, which was associated with the Ash-can School, and exhibited watercolors in the Armory Show, which made an overwhelming impact on him. After a visit to Paris in 1928-29 he introduced a new note into US Cubism, basing himself on its Synthetic rather than its Analytical phase. Using natural forms, particularly forms suggesting the characteristic environment of American life, he rearranged them into flat poster-like patterns with precise outlines and sharply contrasting colors (House and Street, Whitney Museum, New York, 1931).

He later went over to pure abstract patterns, into which he often introduced lettering, suggestions of advertisements, posters, etc. (Owh! in San Pao, Whitney Museum, 1951). The zest and dynamism of such works reflect his interest in jazz. Davis is generally considered to be the outstanding American artist to work in a Cubist idiom. He made witty and original use of it and created a distinctive American style, for however abstract his works became he always claimed that every image he used had its source in observed reality: `I paint what I see in America, in other words I paint the American Scene.'

• Edison Mazda
  1924 (160 Kb); Oil on canvas, 24 1/2 x 18 5/8 in; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  
• Percolator
  1927 (160 Kb); Oil on canvas, 36 x 29 in; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
  
• Egg Beater No. 4
  1928 (90 Kb); Oil on canvas, 27 x 38 1/8 in; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
  
• New York Waterfront
  1938 (110 Kb); Oil on canvas, 56 x 77 cm (22 x 30 1/4 in); Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
  
• Report from Rockport
  1940 (180 Kb); Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in; Collection Mr. and Mrs. Milton Lowenthal, New York
  
• G & W
  1944 (140 Kb); Oil on canvas, 18 3/4 x 11 5/8 in; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
  
• The Mellow Pad
  1945-51 (180 Kb); Oil on canvas, 26 x 42 in; Brooklyn Museum, New York
  
• Visa
  1951 (100 Kb); Oil on canvas, 40 x 52 in; The Museum of Modern Art, New York
  
• Owh! in San Pao
  1951 (110 Kb); Oil on canvas, 52 1/4 x 41 3/4 in; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
  
• Rapt at Rappaport's
  1952 (110 Kb); Oil on canvas, 52 x 40 in; Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
  
• Colonial Cubism
  1954 (90 Kb); Oil on canvas, 44 7/8 x 60 1/8 in; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  
• Blips and Ifs
  1963-64 (80 Kb); Oil on canvas, 71 1/8 x 53 1/8 in; Amon Carter Museum, Ft. Worth, Texas