Stuart Davis

(American, 1892–1964)

Stuart Davis was an American Modernist painter, best known for his brilliantly colored abstractions of jazz musicians, street scenes, and landscapes. Davis was a conduit for American culture, and through his graphic forms and aggregate compositions, he translated his experiences into dynamic works such as The Mellow Pad (1945–1951). “My concept of form is very simple and is based on the assumption that space is continuous and that matter is discontinuous,” he once explained. “In my formal concept the question of two or more dimensions does not enter.” Born on December 7, 1892 in Philadelphia, PA, Davis studied under the Ashcan School painter Robert Henri in New York. Heeding Henri’s advice to paint the gritty everyday scenes of the city, Davis frequented back alleys and saloons while becoming involved in leftist politics. Rising to prominence after his inclusion in the famed 1913 Armory Show, it was at the exhibition that he first saw the works of Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso. By the 1920s, Davis’s work shifted from the realist aesthetic of his youth into the mature abstracted compositions he is best known for. Over the following decade, he became friends with the artists John Graham, Charles Demuth, and Arshile Gorky. It was during the Great Depression that Davis’s work became increasingly critical of capitalism and he began using painting as a vehicle for his political views. Unable to remain at forefront of the avant-garde during the 1950s, Davis nonetheless represented the United States in both the 1952 and 1954 Venice Biennales. He died on June 24, 1964 in New York, NY. Today, the artist’s works are included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, among others.

Stuart Davis News

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Hank Willis Thomas on His New Work, Charlottesville, and Modernism's Debt to African Art

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Going to Bat for Stuart Davis, a Genius in Every Branch of Modernism

by Blake Gopnik

Going to Bat for Stuart Davis, a Genius in Every Branch of Modernism

Stuart Davis Artworks

Stuart Davis (635 results)

Fish, 1939

Stuart Davis

Sale Date: May 26, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (Town View), 1917

Stuart Davis

Untitled (Town View), 1917

Sale Date: May 26, 2022

Auction Closed

Landscape, Gloucester, 1917

Stuart Davis

Landscape, Gloucester, 1917

Sale Date: May 26, 2022

Auction Closed

Landscape, Bass Rocks, 1941

Stuart Davis

Landscape, Bass Rocks, 1941

Sale Date: May 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (from the Ten Works by Ten Painters , 1964

Stuart Davis

Untitled (from the Ten Works by Ten Painters , 1964

Sale Date: April 29, 2022

Auction Closed

Ivy League (C. & M. p. 79), 1953

Stuart Davis

Ivy League (C. & M. p. 79), 1953

Sale Date: April 20, 2022

Auction Closed

Ivy League, 1953

Stuart Davis

Ivy League, 1953

Sale Date: March 5, 2022

Auction Closed

Village Scene

Stuart Davis

Village Scene

Sale Date: March 6, 2022

Auction Closed

Village Scene, 1917

Stuart Davis

Village Scene, 1917

Sale Date: March 6, 2022

Auction Closed

Untitled (from the Ten Works by Ten Painters , 1964

Stuart Davis

Untitled (from the Ten Works by Ten Painters , 1964

Sale Date: February 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Gladys and Mineola Hottentot,, 1923

Stuart Davis

Gladys and Mineola Hottentot,, 1923

Sale Date: February 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Ivy League, 1953

Stuart Davis

Ivy League, 1953

Sale Date: December 2, 2021

Auction Closed

Stage Set for

Stuart Davis

Stage Set for "The Puritans", 1922

Sale Date: December 13, 2021

Auction Closed

Configuration with Texture., 1932

Stuart Davis

Configuration with Texture., 1932

Sale Date: December 2, 2021

Auction Closed

Stuart Davis

Portrait of a Woman in Profile, 1914

Sale Date: December 5, 2021

Auction Closed

Study for a Drawing, 1955

Stuart Davis

Study for a Drawing, 1955

Sale Date: November 18, 2021

Auction Closed

Carrefour, 1928

Stuart Davis

Carrefour, 1928

Sale Date: November 18, 2021

Auction Closed

Final Study for Radio City Music Hall Mural, 1932

Stuart Davis

Final Study for Radio City Music Hall Mural, 1932

Sale Date: November 18, 2021

Auction Closed

Coast Town Landscape Study, 1940

Stuart Davis

Coast Town Landscape Study, 1940

Sale Date: November 18, 2021

Auction Closed

Composition, From Ten Works By Ten Painters, 1964

Stuart Davis

Composition, From Ten Works By Ten Painters, 1964

Sale Date: November 12, 2021

Auction Closed

Havana, 1920

Stuart Davis

Sale Date: November 5, 2021

Auction Closed

Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors—7th Avenue..., 1950

After Stuart Davis

Hot Still-Scape for Six Colors—7th Avenue..., 1950

Sale Date: November 2, 2021

Auction Closed

Composition, 1964

Stuart Davis

Composition, 1964

Sale Date: November 2, 2021

Auction Closed

Detail Study for Cliché, 1957

Stuart Davis

Detail Study for Cliché, 1957

Sale Date: November 2, 2021

Auction Closed

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