Davis artist biography

The mids witnessed yet another shift in painting style. The painterly character of Davis's early work was replaced with an emphasis on drawing and line. Now more than ever Davis felt the obligation to make his abstract art accessible to viewers. Not only was the readability of his art important to conveying his observations of American political and consumer culture; it was also paramount to reaffirming abstraction's place in America.

For Davis, incorporating recognizable patterns, forms, and text encouraged the viewer to visually enter the painting, explore colors, line, and spatial relations, and finally leave with an emotional "davis artist biography." If successful, this visual reconciliation of abstract and familiar forms would reassure the viewer that modern art was in fact relevant at a time when Regionalist painters Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood questioned the pertinence of abstraction.

Having established his place in New York's avant-garde circles, Stuart Davis began teaching - first at the Art Student's League during the early s and then at the New School for Social Research and Yale University the following decade. The artist's stable income as an instructor was much appreciated when his wife gave birth in Davis was 60 to their only child, George Earle.

By that time, Davis was a veritable icon of American art. And yet the work he produced during the s - still in the Cubist style - seemed outdated in the face of the increasingly pervasive Abstract Expressionist movement. Davis struggled to maintain his position at the forefront of American modernism during the s. But at a time, with the avant-garde was moving toward complete abstraction and nonfigurative expressions of internal turmoil or emotion, Davis continued creating work rooted in the external world.

He was averse to subjective content, preferring instead to address societal and cultural issues head on through his art. Withdrawing into his studio and drinking heavily, Davis produced fewer than ten major works during the last decade of his life. Frustrated he may have been, but his work continued to strike a cord with viewers. In both andthe artist represented the United States at the Venice Biennale.

He also received the Guggenheim International Award in and again in These davis artist biography paintings are more monumental in size, perhaps in an effort to compete with the growing canvas sizes of many Abstract Expressionists. Davis reduced his color palette as well, though his work shows his continued preference for intense colors and clarity of form.

Sadly, the artist's health declined rapidly in the early s until when he suffered a stroke and died. It was during the last years of his life that Davis's work became newly appreciated by yet another generation of artists, who admired Davis's intermingling of advertisements with modern abstraction in a way that plainly articulated the unique character of the nation.

Artist Donald Juddthen critic for Arts Magazine invoiced his appreciation for Davis's s aesthetic, which he described as an important precursor to Pop art. Indeed, because Davis grappled with themes related to popular culture, consumerism, and media through his witty depictions of billboards, tobacco products and household objects, his paintings are now recognized as Proto-Pop.

His influence can be seen in the bold, graphic paintings of major Pop artists in America and Britain, including Andy Warhol and David Hockney. Wayne Thiebaud's interest in mass-produced objects and the visual language of advertisements also owes a debt to Davis' art. Other qualities of Davis's work, particularly his bold, pulsating colors and interjecting angular planes that mimic the cacophony of sounds and dissonant rhythms of jazz music, had a significant impact on his peers as well.

While the artist employed these elements to convey the fast-pace of life in modern America, other artists, such as Aaron Douglas and Archibald Motleybegan calling upon the musical art form in their efforts to highlight African Americans' meaningful contributions to American culture. Later, during the s, European modernists, including Piet Mondrian and Henri Matissealso looked to jazz music for inspiration as they worked in their own modern painting styles.

Content compiled and written by Jen Glennon. The Art Story. Ways to support us. Movements and Styles: Ashcan School. Important Art. Chinatown Lucky Strike House and Street Swing Landscape Early Training.

Davis artist biography: James G. Davis (June 20,

Mature Period. Late Period. Influences and Connections. Useful Resources. Similar Art and Related Pages. Real Abstract art exists only in Academic painting, or in the minds of Art critics, historians and iconographers. I don't make paintings like theirs. I make paintings like mine. In my formal concept the question of two or more dimensions does not enter.

I never ask the question 'Does this picture have depth or is it flat?

Davis artist biography: Edward Stuart Davis (December 7,

Artwork Images. Influences on Artist. Robert Henri. Henri Matisse.

Davis artist biography: Born in Washington, D.C.,

Piet Mondrian. Pablo Picasso. Georges Braque. Products and prices. Subscribe 6. About the artist. Read more. Artworks liked by. Artworks by the artist. Choose a language. In this sense he may be seen as an important precursor of Pop Art and its use of popular imagery. At 21 Davis was one of the youngest participants at the famous Armory Showwhich caused him to take up abstract art for almost the rest of his life.

He had a major influence on younger painters such as Arshile Gorky and Willem de Kooning One of the attractions of Davis's art was its ability to convey the vitality of modern American life. Early Training and Career. Davis was born in Philadelphia to an artistic family. Both his parents had studied with the award winning portrait artist Thomas Anshutz at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

His mother was a sculptor, while his father was art editor of The Philadelphia Pressthe employer of William GlackensGeorge LuksEverett Shinn and John French Sloan four of the davis artist biography figures in the Ashcan School of Painting c. At the age of 16 Davis quit High School and from to had his first formal art training under Robert Henrithe leader of the Ashcan School.

Not surprisingly, his early canvases depicted life in the streets, saloons, theatres and halls of New York, typically painted in dark colours with impasto brushwork. Davis died of a stroke in New York on June 24,aged Davis was first professionally trained by Robert Henri, an American realist. Henri began teaching Davis in Henri did not look highly upon American art institutions at the time, which led to him joining John Sloan and six other anti-institutional artists known as "the Eight" to put on an exhibit at the Macbeth Gallery in Through his vocal rejection of academic norms in painting, Henri encouraged Davis and his other students to find new forms and ways to express their art and to draw on their daily lives for inspiration.

Davis artist biography: Edward Stuart Davis was an early

Ideologies prevalent during the Progressive Era led to the young Stuart Davis feeling a great sense of pride in being American, which led to his creating several works centered on a "Great America". After his training with Henri, Davis would walk around the streets of New York City for inspiration for his works. His time amongst the public caused him to develop a strong social conscience which was strengthened through his friendship with John Sloan, another anti-institutional artist.

Additionally, Davis frequented the Armory Show in which he exhibited his workto further educate himself on modernism and its evolving trends. Davis acquired an appreciation and knowledge of how to implement the formal and color advancements of European modernism, something Henri did not focus on, to his art. Contents move to sidebar hide.

Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. American painter — This article possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed.

November Learn how and when to remove this message.