Stuart Davis in Havana
-
-
Stuart Davis in Havana is an exhibition of ten evocative early watercolors painted in 1920 following Stuart Davis’ brief yet formative trip to Cuba, where the artist convalesced after contracting Spanish flu. Curated by Priscilla Vail Caldwell in collaboration with Earl Davis and the Estate of Stuart Davis, the exhibition also presents a trove of archival material documenting the artist’s trip including postcards, lottery tickets, and the painter’s passport.
-
-
On December 31st, 1919, Davis joined his close friend and fellow painter Glenn O. Coleman in Havana. Due south of Florida and just 110 miles offshore, Havana attracted those seeking adventure, with the temptation of late, boozy nights, or as writer Gilbert Seldes described for The New Yorkerin 1926, “The hours kept are Harlem Hours.” Over a century later, as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, our understanding of deprivation, desire for novel experiences, as well as the creative inspiration that unfamiliar environments can provide, is equally acute. Davis’ observations, those of an eager traveler, communicate to us directly despite the passage of time.
-
-
Compelled by the burgeoning spirit of Modernism and crafting an original visual vocabulary, in his Havana watercolors we see Davis unleashed, boldly experimenting with flat planes of bright color. Works such as Dancers on Havana Street (1920) and Woman with Shawl(1920) are comprised of angular silhouettes rendered in bold hues, purple, ocher, black, bright yellow, and deep red, foreshadowing works from the late 1920s in which Davis would synthesize subject-matter into an increasingly rigorous geometry defined by color rather than dimensional space.
-
-
Stuart Davis' passport dated December 10, 1919.
-
Postcard from Stuart Davis to his mother, Helen Stuart Davis. Dated January 1920.
-
-
-
Melding reality and fiction, Davis layered depictions of Havana’s natural landscape with detailed architectural elements pulled from recognizable structures such as the Church Santo Angel Custodio, La Fortaleza of San Carlos de la Cabaña, or the fortifications of the old city. Parque Centrale—Cuba (1920) includes a broken outline of the park’s statue of political figure Carlos Manuel de Céspedes amongst pulsating swaths of color. These translucent washes of paint allow images to shift in and out of focus, generating an ephemerality associated with memory or dream.
-
-
"I made two watercolors yesterday and have made 20 sketches. I will be in full swing in 2 days." Postcard from Stuart Davis to his mother while in Havana. January, 1920.
-
Artist photograph of Inglesia de Espíritu Santo, Havana, 1920.
-
-
-
In February 1920, Davis returned to the United States, a country in the midst of industrial and intellectual upheaval as well as robust growth. The “Roarin’ 20s” as F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote, “was going to be the greatest, gaudiest spree in history and there was going to be plenty to tell about it.” Or, in the case of Davis, plenty to paint.
Davis’s work has been exhibited worldwide and is held in the permanent collection of prominent institutions including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY; Brooklyn Museum, New York, NY; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, CA; San Francisco Museum of Art, CA; Philadelphia Museum of Art, PA; Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; among many others. Recent significant exhibitions include the 2016 critically acclaimed Stuart Davis: In Full Swing, which opened at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, NY, and traveled to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR.
-
-
Postcard from Stuart Davis to his mother, Helen Stuart Davis. Dated January 1920.
-
Postcard from Stuart Davis' trip to Havana, 1920.
-
-
Works
-
-
About the Artist
-
Explore
-
Judith Bernstein: Public Fears
January 6 – February 15, 2025 509 West 27th Street, New YorkJudith Bernstein’s third solo exhibition at the gallery, Public Fears, will survey nearly 60 years of work—from 1966 to the present—underscoring the enduring urgency of Bernstein’s trailblazing artistry. Including new paintings, works on paper, and a restaging of her iconic Signature Piece (1986), this will be Bernstein’s first New York solo exhibition since the acquisition of her major charcoal screw drawing Horizontal (1973) by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2023. The exhibition anticipates the artist’s major museum retrospective at Kunsthaus Zurich in 2026. -
Emil Sands: Salt in the throat
January 9 – February 15, 2025 297 Tenth Avenue, New YorkFor his debut exhibition in Chelsea, Emil Sands explores shifting codes of human behavior and the influence of the surrounding world in a suite of new paintings. In the open air of a seascape or the shadows of a dense forest, Sands’ settings act as stage sets in which his cast of characters perform, reading one another's subtle gestures. As he exaggerates these figures and invites viewers to extrapolate on their relationships, Sands' considered brushwork and intuitive use of color combine to construct narratives filled with humor and pathos.
-
