This book pays tribute to the mature work of<br>Stuart Davis, a distinctly American artist who<br>adapted European modernism to reflect the<br>sights, sounds, and rhythms of popular culture. Beginning in 1921, a series of creative breakthroughs led Davis<br>away from figurative painting and toward a more abstract<br>expression of the world he inhabited. Drawing upon his<br>admiration for Cézanne, Léger, Picasso, and Seurat, Davis<br>developed a style that would evolve over the next four decades<br>to become a dominant force in postwar art. His visionary<br>responses to modern life and culture both high and low remain<br>relevant more than 50 years after his death. Focusing on the<br>images and motifs that became hallmarks of his career, this<br>book features approximately 100 works--from his paintings of<br>tobacco packages of the early 1920s, the abstract Egg Beater<br>series, and the WPA murals of the 1930s, to the majestic works<br>of his last two decades. The authors take a critical approach<br>to the development of Davis's art and theory, paying special<br>attention to the impact his earlier work had upon his later<br>masterpieces. They also discuss Davis's unique ability to<br>assimilate the lessons of Cubism as well as the imagery of<br>popular culture, the aesthetics of advertising, and the sounds<br>and rhythms of jazz--his great musical passion. Informed by<br>previously unpublished primary documents, the detailed<br>chronology is, in effect, the first Davis biography. Together,<br>these elements create a vital portrait of an artist whose works<br>hum with intelligence and energy.