Davis, Stuart, 1892-1964

Stuart Davis (1892-1964) was a painter and teacher, from New York.

Painter; New York, N.Y. Birthdate also cited as 1894.

Painter and teacher, New York.

Davis was born on December 7, 1892 (often noted as 1894) in Philadelphia, PA, to Helen Stuart Folke and Edward Wyatt Davis. The Davis family moved to East Orange, New Jersey, when Stuart was 7; he dropped out of high school in 1909 to study painting with Robert Henri. Davis, one of the most important early American modernists, is best known for his brightly colored abstract paintings using a cubist vocabulary, which incorporate in his compositions elements derived from scenes in New York City and Gloucester, Massachusetts, gasoline pumps, egg beaters, and commercial products such as cigarette packaging, as well as signage and words. He was married to Bessie Chosak, who died in 1932. He later married Roselle Springer; they had one child, George Earl. Stuart Davis died of a stroke in New York City on June 24, 1964.

Painter; New York, N.Y.

Work primarily abstract. Exhibited at age nineteen in the Armory Show. Went to France for one year, 1928; worked for WPA; active in many art organizations.

One of the most important early American modernists, Edward Stuart Davis was born on December 7, 1892 (often noted as 1894) in Philadelphia, PA, to Helen Stuart Foulke and Edward Wyatt Davis, an illustrator at the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Davis family moved to East Orange, NJ in 1901. He dropped out of high school in 1909 to study painting at the Robert Henri School of Art in New York.

Davis exhibited five watercolors in the 1913 Armory Show, and in response to the work of such European artists shown as Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Matisse, resolved to become a "modern" artist. He joined the staff of The Masses, under the art editor, John Sloan, contributing illustrations and covers, and resigned in 1916 during the artists' strike. Invited by Sloan to visit Gloucester, MA, in 1915, Davis would return almost annually through 1940, maintaining a summer-autumn studio there.

In 1928-1929, he lived in Paris, where he painted and produced a series of lithographs. He completed seven murals, including two while working for the WPA. Politically active in the 1930's, he was the editor of Art Front, the journal of the Artists' Union, and served as the executive secretary and later the national chairman of the American Artists' Congress. In articles and speeches, Davis defended artists' rights and the American contribution to modern art. A life-long fan of jazz, he acknowledged its influence as an authentic American art form.

Davis taught at the Art Students League, NY (1931-1932), the New School for Social Research (1940–1951), New Jersey State Teachers College, Newark, NJ (1942), and Yale University (1951). Major retrospective exhibitions were organized by the Museum of Modern Art, (1945), and the Walker Art Center (1957). The recipient of numerous awards, Davis was elected a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1956.

Stuart Davis is best known for his brightly colored abstract paintings using a cubist vocabulary, which incorporate in his compositions elements derived from scenes of New York and Gloucester, gasoline pumps, egg beaters and commercial products such as cigarette packaging, as well as signage and words. He was married to Bessie Chosak, who died in 1932. He later married Roselle Springer; they had one child, George Earl. Stuart Davis died of a stroke in New York City on June 24, 1964.