About the Object
A drawing of a Gloucester harborscape appears in the center of the sketchbook page. Containers are spread across the dock in the foreground, the water and two ships occupy the middle ground, with buildings and the rocky coast of Gloucester in the background. Written on the right margin, vertically in script: “This drawing is made on the theory/ that The Real Form is unknowable/ even after it is drawn. That is/ has being thro’ The Ideal Form/ whose laws we know./ The drawing was made by/ impulse and observance of the/ adjacent angles only./ August 26, 1933” In the right corner is a seated figure, perhaps Pre-Columbian in inspiration, holding a mask. Above the figure Davis wrote: Wharf/ Black. White. Red.”
Additional Information
In 1915, Davis began spending the summers in Gloucester, Massachusetts; the nautical surroundings would become a frequent motif in his work. Ship’s Rigging (Coordinates II), (VF2016.03.07), also in the Collection, takes the harbor town as its subject.
The Artist;
Estate of the Artist;
[Owings-Dewey Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM];
Jan T. and Marica Vilcek Collection, New York, NY, 2004-2016;
Chicago, IL. Terra Museum of American Art. The Drawings of Stuart Davis: The Amazing Continuity (December 12, 1992-February 7, 1993); Middlebury, VT. Middlebury College Museum of Art (March 30-May 2, 1993); San Antonio, TX. Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum (May 23-July 18, 1993); Miami, FL. Center for the Fine Arts (August 7-September 19, 1993); Andover, MA. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy (October 17-December 30, 1993); Omaha, NE. Joslyn Art Museum (February 12-April 10, 1994); Washington, D.C. The Phillips Collection (May-July 1994); ill. p. 98, cat. no. 59c.
New York, NY. Marc de Montebello Fine Art. Stuart Davis: Drawings. October 10-28, 1995.
Gloucester, MA. Cape Ann Historical Museum. Stuart Davis in Gloucester (June 5-November 27, 1999); Wilmington, DE. Delaware Art Museum (January 21-March 19, 2000); New York, NY. National Academy of Design (May 3-July 30, 2000); p. 90, 98, ill. p. 98, fig. 22.
Stuart Davis Sketchbooks. New York: Estate of Stuart Davis, Grace Borgenicht Gallery, and the Arts Publisher, 1986, ill. n.p.
Wilkin, Karen. Stuart Davis. New York: Abbeville Press, 1987, ill. p. 31, no. 34.
Boyajian, Ani and Mark Rutkoski eds. Stuart Davis: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007, vol. 2, p. 283, ill. p 283, cat. no. 581.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 210-211, 264, ill. p. 211.
