Men and Machine
Heralded for his abstract visual evocations of jazz, Davis also responded profoundly to the industrial age in his art. The present work features two men standing before a schematically rendered structure with their backs to the viewer. Likely representing a construction site with the foreman and investor looking on, the painting alludes to New York’s interwar construction boom. Highlighting the degree to which industrialism was associated with masculinity, Davis’s painting, consisting of primary colors on a white ground, also testifies to the artist’s respect for Piet Mondrian.
Artwork Details
- Title: Men and Machine
- Artist: Stuart Davis (American, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1892–1964 New York)
- Date: 1934
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 32 × 40 in. (81.3 × 101.6 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Jay R. Braus, 1981
- Object Number: 1981.406
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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Stuart Davis
ca. 1934
Stuart Davis
ca. 1934
Stuart Davis
ca. 1934
Stuart Davis
ca. 1934
Stuart Davis
1939
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