Stuart davis paintings cursive writing

Colour, in the second version, is the basis of change, while words the title create continuity, stability. But colour frees the artwork from the bonds of line and drawing: colour takes over from drawing, going from line to space, from identifiable subject matter to coordinated coloured shapes, transforming an optical experience into a conceptual experience.

Colour as an element of change and equality. Colour, therefore, introduces transformation. Just as Davis establishes that colour combinations create relief and recession, the same can be said of different versions of the same painting. Davis repeatedly went back on former works to re-examine them, and rework them in different colour combinations.

The dynamics of colour within a work is extended from one work to another within a series. The two are exactly the same size ,9 x ,7 cm ; the first has a palette limited to 4 colours — red, white, blue, and black — , and the second has only 2 colours — black and orange. While the first looks like an abstract arrangement of coloured shapes, the second looks like a drawing or what we understand to be a drawing: lines in one colour against a background in another colour , with black lines in a combination of straight lines and squiggles.

In Ready to Wear, the left side of the canvas has a black background onto which coloured shapes of white, red, and blue appear to be collaged. On the right, the background is blue, again with a painted illusory collage of shapes of white, black, and red. This allows Davis to work on relief and recession: a colour that seems to be in the background, receding behind the other shapes, can also appear to be on the surface of the canvas, depending on the colour that is adjacent to it, and on its shape: the white X in the top right hand comer seems to be on top of the black rectangle, which itself seems to be on top of a red oval shape, while to the left of that combination, white is in the background, with blue and red shapes in the front, and a black square in the foreground.

In both versions, Davis works against preconceived ideas about light and dark, or about centred subject matter, or again about three-dimensional space. In both paintings, what goes on on the canvas interacts with the words of the title. Towards the end of his life, Davis painted another series: Letter and His Ecol, with an earlier coloured version, and two later black and white versions.

Again, the three versions are the same size. In his colour cube, black and white are the two extremes, red in the centre colour, and yellow and green are next to black and white respectively. Davis also combines writing and coloured shapes, and geometric and non-geometric shapes. And the three letters of the word ANY, at bottom right, are turned around and seem to be independent shapes doing their own thing in the colour-shape composition.

The black and white version with thick black lines reveals a clear difference between the contours and the white spaces between the black lines, and shows how these spaces interlock. But Davis was clearly looking at something else as well: he did not stop at one black and white version, he made two, one with thick lines and one with thin lines.

Stuart davis paintings cursive writing

The thinner lines almost recede into the background, as the white shapes come forward for the eye to see, while the thicker lines stand out more, share the space with the larger white spaces, and become spaces themselves. As they do so, they transform into colour spaces. In either case, the black and white versions, like the colour version, point to equality of the spaces or shapes, and equality of space and contour in the first black and white version.

So while colour seems to introduce instability, process, and movement, through variation, it also introduces permanence and equality: the different versions are equal, they share the same titles, the same shape and size, and they are all about spatial relations, where each space is equal to the others. Colours change from one version to another, but in the end, colours, like subject matter, are less important than what Davis does to them.

The word ANY on the right side of the coloured version of the painting and in both black and white versions indicates equality as any subject matter will do, any shape, any colour: colours, like shapes, are freed from meaning outside the world of associations that Davis creates. Like the ready-made of Marcel Duchamp, they offer visual indifference.

Shapes and colours only exist as they interact with one another, through superimpositions and juxtapositions. Color and race: Odol and other black and white paintings. Davis uses black and white as spaces and lines, as colours or ground and line. Start from scratch. A child's circle will be more interesting than your own. Invest in good supplies and take time to set up.

Look at the greats; no child is too young for art history. Look at the world; learning to make art is learning to see and find pleasure in details. Art education should begin young. Starting at the point of emphasis which is the word now. Your eye moves towards the black box with the number six in it. Then towards the bright red box next to it with the green marks inside of it.

The word else is also catches your eye. The shape above the word else is the next place of movement , and the words that are in cursive, until you are back to the point of emphasis. Contrast is when two different elements are put next to each other. The green circles represent when there is contrast of bright versus dark colors. Like the red against the black and black against the bright yellow.

Percolator Stuart Davis Report from Rockport Stuart Davis The Mellow Pad Stuart Davis Rapt at Rappaport's Stuart Davis Colonial Cubism Stuart Davis Blips and Ifs Stuart Davis Something on the Eight Ball Stuart Davis Visa Stuart Davis Seine Cart Stuart Davis New York Waterfront Stuart Davis Egg Beater No. Steeple and Street Stuart Davis Tree and Urn Stuart Davis Garage No.