Gloucester Landscape

Maker Stuart Davis (American, 1892 - 1964)

Collections

ClassificationsPAINTINGS

Date1919

Mediumoil on canvas

Dimensions24 x 30 in. (61 x 76.2 cm.)

Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens. Purchased with funds from the Art Collectors' Council and the Virginia Steele Scott Foundation

Status

On view

Label TextOne of the first Americans to fully embrace Cubism, Stuart Davis painted Gloucester Landscape early in his career, when he experimented with European avant-garde styles. The slightly flattened perspective and the geometric interpretation of the rocks and foliage demonstrate the influence of Paul Cézanne and the Cubists. Davis's vigorous, multidirectional brushstrokes show his interest in the painting of Vincent van Gogh.
Davis first visited Gloucester, Massachusetts, in 1915, when he stayed in a house rented by the artist John Sloan, who was a friend and mentor. The paintings Davis produced around the fishing village represented his first attempts at landscape. To help the viewer understand the vastness of the land, sea, and sky in his Gloucester scenes, Davis often included schooners at sea to provide a sense of scale.

Object number2006.9