Stuart Davis in Gloucester

Delaware Art Museum

Wilmington, DE

302-571-9590

http://www.delart.org

Stuart Davis in Gloucester

January 21 - March 19, 2000

"Stuart Davis in Gloucester," on view at the Delaware Art Museum from January 21 through March 19, 2000, includes over 60 paintings and works on paper that survey Stuart Davis's work in the coastal town of Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The exhibition traces Davis's development in his treatment of the Cape Ann landscape and seascape from his early post-Impressionist approach to the evolution of his geometric and brightly colored signature style. The wharf in the harbor, boat riggings and masts, the crisp angles of New England houses, the rhythms of waves and the white light of this seaside village inspired Davis and reverberate throughout this important body of work. Included with the exhibition is rare archival material on loan from the estate of Stuart Davis. (left: Stuart Davis (1894-1964), Morning Walk, 1919, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 inches, Collection of Earl Davis, courtesy of the Cape Ann Historical Association)

At the suggestion of John Sloan, Davis (1894-1964) spent 19 summers in Gloucester, an artists' colony. For several years Davis lived with Sloan and his first wife Dolly in a red cottage in East Gloucester, along with other artist friends. Davis, as well as other artists who followed in the footsteps of "The Eight," was influenced by European art - in particular the French Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Davis's later works also showed a significant Cubist influence. (right: Stuart Davis (1894-1964),Autumn Landscape with Horse, c. 1919, oil on canvas, 23 7/8 x 29 7/8 inches, Collection of Earl Davis, courtesy of the Cape Ann Historical Association)

It is particularly appropriate for the Delaware Art Museum to present "Stuart Davis in Gloucester," as the museum is the world center for John Sloan studies with over 4,068 works by the artist. Also, the museum has benefitted for decades from the collaboration of Sloan's widow, Helen Farr Sloan, who is helping to interpret and illuminate her late husband's unique place in American art history.

Running concurrently with "Stuart Davis in Gloucester" will be The Red Cottage Artists, a cameo exhibition of paintings and works on paper by artists who also lived in the red cottage over the years. The works will be enhanced by important archival materials from the Delaware Art Museum's singular collection. On view will be works by additional artists John Sloan encouraged to stay in the red cottage, including Charles Allen Winter and Alice Beach Winter. In their Gloucester retreat, they experimented with new ideas and techniques such as the Hardesty Maratta color system. (right: Stuart Davis (1894-1964), Landscape with Drying Sails, 1931-32, oil on canvas, 32 x 40 inches, Courtesy Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio, Museum Purchase, Howald Fund II, 1981.012)

"Stuart Davis in Gloucester," organized by the Cape Ann Historical Museum in Gloucester, is accompanied by a catalogue with essays by Judith McCulloch, Director of the Cape Ann Historical Museum, and Sharon Worley, Curator, as well as scholar Karen Wilken. This exhibition is supported, in part, by The Discerning Traveler and the Delaware Division of the Arts. (left: Stuart Davis (1894-1964), Landscape in the Color of a Pear, 1940, oil on canvas, 15 x 22 1/8 inches, Courtesy of the Montclair Art Museum, Museum purchase, prior bequest of Florence O. R. Land, prior gift of John Ritzenthaler and Acquisition Fund, 1997.6)

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