Stuart Davis

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Even when he was hailed as ``the ace of American modernists,'' Davis was odd man out. His distinctive brand of homegrown Cubism, with its clashing shapes and razzle-dazzle colors, had few imitators. Though he was active in leftist politics in the 1930s, his work from that period seems curiously detached. In later years he turned inward, out of touch with a new generation of abstract artists. Nevertheless, his best pictures have undeniable staying power born of their sheer inventiveness, jazzy syncopations and street-smart imagery. Wilkin, who has written books on David Smith and Helen Frankenthaler, examines the phases of Davis's career, from the gritty realism of his Ashcan pictures to serene New Mexico landscapes, cubist ``Tobacco Paintings'' and murals. This profusely illustrated biographical study should add luster to the reputation of an artist whose work has stood the test of time. (November 2)

Library Journal

A fine, thoughtful monograph on the work of the American modernist whom Wilkin sees, finally, as the ``odd man out, aesthetically.'' As a Cubist who invented his own version of the radical European art he was exposed to in the Armory show of 1913, Davis was often considered too revolutionary in his early years; yet at the time of his death in 1964, his form of modernism had been overtaken by the Abstract Expressionists, whose work and aesthetic he disliked and mistrusted. Wilkin's discussion of the artist's often tortuous theorizing is lucid and fair; her portrait of a vigorous, independent, and sometimes cantankerous artist, fascinating; and her discussion of his work, eminently readable. With about 100 color plates and 150 black-and-white illustrations. Margot Karp, Pratt Inst. Lib., Brooklyn, New York