BIOGRAPHY
Born in Philadelphia, Stuart Davis moved to New York to study under Robert Henri and was heavily influenced by the Ashcan School. In 1913 he was overwhelmed by the European Modernism exhibited at the Armory Show, and his style entered an eclectic, derivative phase, influenced by Gauguin, Matisse, and Van Gogh. In the 1920s he became interested in Fernand Léger and cubism, and his work evolved more formal clarity, austerity, and abstraction, as evidenced in Percolator (1927). He worked for the Federal Art Project in the 1930s, but rejected the dogmatism of Social Realism, and vigorously defended a position which saw the modernist style as closely tied to society, and something to be embraced. During this period he came to be seen as America's premier modernist. His clear, ordered, and objective style led to his marginalization after Abstract Expressionism rose to prominence, but his early interest in packaging, advertising, and signs gave him a new currency with the rise of Pop Art in the 1960s.
Born in Philadelphia, Stuart Davis moved to New York to study under Robert Henri and was heavily influenced by the Ashcan School. In 1913 he was overwhelmed by the European Modernism exhibited at the Armory Show, and his style entered an eclectic, derivative phase, influenced by Gauguin, Matisse, and Van Gogh. In the 1920s he became interested in Fernand Léger and cubism, and his work evolved more formal clarity, austerity, and abstraction, as evidenced in Percolator (1927). He worked for the Federal Art Project in the 1930s, but rejected the dogmatism of Social Realism, and vigorously defended a position which saw the modernist style as closely tied to society, and something to be embraced. During this period he came to be seen as America's premier modernist. His clear, ordered, and objective style led to his marginalization after Abstract Expressionism rose to prominence, but his early interest in packaging, advertising, and signs gave him a new currency with the rise of Pop Art in the 1960s.
RESOURCES
1. Premier
2. Summer Landscape
3. Works of art by Stuart Davis in the Crystal Bridges Museum main collection:
Atlantic City Night ; Boating Party ; Breakfast Table ; Punch Card Flutter No. 3 ; Still Life with Map, New Mexico ; Color Sketch for WNYC Mural ; Self-Portrait ; Rue de l'Echaudé ; Still Life with Flowers
1. Premier
2. Summer Landscape
3. Works of art by Stuart Davis in the Crystal Bridges Museum main collection:
Atlantic City Night ; Boating Party ; Breakfast Table ; Punch Card Flutter No. 3 ; Still Life with Map, New Mexico ; Color Sketch for WNYC Mural ; Self-Portrait ; Rue de l'Echaudé ; Still Life with Flowers
REFERENCES
Biography adapted from Falconer, Morgan. "Davis, Stuart." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e696>.
Artwork behind title: Davis's Color Sketch for WNYC Mural (detail) from Crystal Bridges Museum collection
Biography adapted from Falconer, Morgan. "Davis, Stuart." The Oxford Companion to Western Art. Ed. Hugh Brigstocke. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web.<http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/opr/t118/e696>.
Artwork behind title: Davis's Color Sketch for WNYC Mural (detail) from Crystal Bridges Museum collection
