About the Object
In Still Life with Vase, Davis simplified the elements of a composition he had explored in two earlier paintings: Still Life with Book, Bottle and Fruit and Still Life with Book, Compote and Glass. He conflated the elements that remain; the three fruits in the dish become inseparable from the fluted glass vase on the right-hand side. Still Life with Vase is pared down, but lacks clarity. The objects are not quickly or easily identified.
Additional Information
Five related works in the Vilcek Collection are part of a larger series of twelve still lifes created by Davis in 1922. Still Life with Book, Compote and Glass (VF2023.03.01), Still Life with Dial (2003.02.01), Red Still Life (2005.06.01), Brown Still Life (2005.06.02), and Blue Still Life (2015.03.01).
The Artist;
Estate of the Artist;
Earl Davis, New York, NY;
[Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, NY];
[Owings-Dewey Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM];
Probably: Gloucester, MA. The studio of Stuart Davis, 4 Eastern Point Road. Modern Paintings. September 1922.
New York, NY. Salander-O’Reilly Galleries. Stuart Davis: The Breakthrough Years, 1922-1924. November 4-December 26, 1987, no. 5 as Still Life with Egg Beater, ill. np., pl. 7, cat. no. 5.
Koriyama, Japan. Koriyama City Museum of Art. Stuart Davis Retrospective (July 8-August 6, 1995); Shiga, Japan. Shiga Museum of Modern Art (August 12-October 1, 1995); Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum (October 10-November 26, 1995); pp. 84, 163, ill. p. 84, cat. no. 42.
Boyajian, Ani and Mark Rutkoski eds. Stuart Davis: A Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007, vol. 1, ill. p. 10, fig. 7; vol. 3, p. 118, ill. p. 118, cat. no. 1470.
Stuart, Carolyn. “American Autoscapes: Stuart Davis and the view from the road, 1920-1940,” PhD dissertation, UCLA, 2010, p. 120, ill. p. 206, fig. 69.
Agee, William C. and Lewis Kachur. Masterpieces of American Modernism: From the Vilcek Collection. London: Merrell, 2013, pp. 188-189, 263, ill. p. 189.
Pochoda, Elizabeth. “Freedom and the abstract truth: Jan and Marica Vilcek’s collection of American modernist art,” The Magazine Antiques (May/June 2013), p. 99, ill. pp. 95, 98, fig. 4.
O’Hern, John. “Modern Manor,” American Fine Art Magazine, September/October 2013, ill. p. 57.
