Stuart Davis: In Full Swing—An Introduction to the Exhibition

Harry Cooper, curator and head, department of modern art, National Gallery of Art. As one of the most important American modernists, Stuart Davis (1892–1964) blurred distinctions between text and image, high and low art, and abstraction and figuration, crafting a distinct style that continues to influence art being made today. Featuring some 100 of his most important, visually complex, jazz-inspired compositions, Stuart Davis: In Full Swing takes a critical approach to the development of Davis’s art and theory, paying special attention to his transformative recycling of earlier works. On November 20, 2016, Harry Cooper introduces the exhibition in celebration of its opening at the National Gallery of Art, where it remains on view through March 5, 2017.