Stuart Davis: In Full Swing

Haskell, Barbara; Cooper, Harry

ISBN 10: 3791355104 / ISBN 13: 9783791355108

Published by National Gallery of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art, 2016

About this Item

Factory sealed. This catalog accompanies the exhibition Stuart Davis: In Full Swing at the National Gallery of Art. Color illustrations. 288p. Measures 10x12 inches. This book pays tribute to the mature work of Stuart Davis (1892-1964), an early American modernist painter. He was well known for his jazz-influenced, proto-pop art paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, bold, brash, and colorful, as well as his Ashcan School pictures in the early years of the 20th century.

Seller Inventory # 31551

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Stuart Davis: In Full Swing
• Publisher: National Gallery of Art; Whitney Museum of American Art
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 3791355104
• ISBN 13: 9783791355108
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Like New
• Dust Jacket Condition: as new
• Seller catalogs:
  • Artists

About this title

Synopsis

Beginning in 1921, a series of creative breakthroughs ledDavis away from figurative painting and toward a moreabstract expression of the world he inhabited. Drawing uponhis admiration for the works of Cezanne, Leger and Picasso,Davis developed a style that would over the next four decadesevolve, challenge and influence contemporary art. Davis'svisionary depictions of modern life and culture both highand low remain relevant more than 50 years after his death.Focusing on the images and motifs that became a hallmark ofhis career, this book features approximately 100 works-fromhis paintings of early 1920s tobacco packages, the abstractEgg Beater series and the WPA mural works from the 1930s,to the majestic works of his last two decades. The authors takea critical approach to the indelible influence Davis had uponcontemporary art and the traceable impact his earlier workhad upon his later masterpieces.They also offer importantbiographical perspectives and discuss Davis's unique abilityto assimilate into his art not only the lessons of Cubism,modernism and abstraction, but also the imagery of popularculture, the aesthetics of advertising and the sounds andrhythms of jazz-his great musical passion. Presenting newlydiscovered primary documents, including photographs andexcerpts from the artist's writings, the detailed chronologyis, in effect, the first-ever Davis biography. Together, theseelements create a vital portrait of an artist whose works humwith intelligence and energy.

About the Author

BARBARA HASKELL is Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, NewYork. HARRY COOPER is Curator and Head of the Modern Art Department at theNational Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.