About the Object
This still life, inspired by Davis’s time in Santa Fe but painted in New York, features three ears of corn and a bowl. The bowl is decorated with cloud, rain, and lightning motifs, which Davis would have seen on Pueblo pottery during his time in the Southwest. The yellow and red corn rest in the bowl, while the blue ear of corn is placed on the table in front of the bowl, lending a sense of depth to the flattened space of the painting.
Additional Information
In 1923, the artist John Sloan, who had introduced Davis to Gloucester, Massachusetts, invited him to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Davis found the landscape overwhelming and painted mostly still lifes during his time there.
The Artist;
Estate of the Artist;
Private Collection, Massachusetts;
[Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, NM];
Private Collection, Texas;
[Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY];
New York, NY. Whitney Studio Club. Retrospective Exhibition of Paintings by Stuart Davis. December 8-22, 1926, no. 36.
London, Endgland. The Leicester Galleries. Six Decades of American Art (in association with the Downtown Gallery, New York). July 14-August 18, 1965, cat. no. 9, ill.
Denver, CO. Denver Art Museum. Picturesque Images of Taos and Santa Fe. December 1, 1972-March 17, 1973.
Los Angeles, CA. Esther-Robles Gallery. Stuart Davis: Paintings – Early Twenties. April 6-May 31, 1979, no. 11.
New York, NY. Borgenicht Gallery. Stuart Davis: Still Life Paintings, 1922/24. September 27-October 23, 1980, ill., np.
New York, NY. Salander-O’Reilly Galleries. Stuart Davis: The Breakthrough Years, 1922-1924. November 4-December 26, 1987, cat. no. 24, ill.
Tulsa, OK. Philbrook Museum of Art. From New York to New Mexico: Masterworks of American Modernism from the Vilcek Foundation Collection (February 8-May 3, 2015); Phoenix, AZ. Phoenix Art Museum (June 5-September 6, 2015); Santa Fe, NM. Georgia O’Keeffe Museum (September 25, 2015-January 10, 2016).
Corpus Christi, TX. The Art Museum of South Texas. Masterpieces of American Modernism from the Vilcek Collection of American Art. September 13, 2018-January 6, 2019.
Downtown Gallery Records. Photographs of Works of Art: Davis, Stuart (2 of 2). Box 110, Reel 5648, Frame 134. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Downtown Gallery Records. Artist Notebooks. Davis, Stuart, undated, 1910‐1970. Box 34, Reel 5568, Frame 414. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
London Arts Review clipping, 1965, Downtown Gallery Records. Artist Notebooks. Davis, Stuart, undated, 1910‐1970. Box 35, Reel 5569, Frames 350-351. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Kachur, Lewis. “Stuart Davis,” Arts Magazine 55, no. 3 (November 1980), p. 2.
Broder, Patricia Janis. The American West: The Modern Vision. Boston: Little, Brown, 1984, ill. p. 121.
Udall, Sharyn Rohlfsen. Modernist Painting in New Mexico, 1913-1935. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1984, p. 160-162, ill. p. 161.
Boyajian, Ani and Mark Rutkoski eds. Stuart Davis: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007, vol. 3, p. 146-147, ill. P. 147, cat. no. 1502.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 192-193, 238, 264, ill. p. 193.
Pochoda, Elizabeth. “Freedom and the abstract truth: Jan and Marica Vilcek’s collection of American modernist art,” The Magazine Antiques (May/June 2013), ill. p. 100.
O’Hern, John. “Modern Manor,” American Fine Art Magazine, September/October 2013, ill. p. 64.
Watts Jr., James D. “Modern masterworks: Philbrook exhibit brings American masters to Tulsa,” Tulsa World, February 12, 2015, ill.
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