Blue Cafe
Artist
Stuart Davis
(American, 1894 - 1964)
Daten.d.a.
MediumLithograph on paper
DimensionsOverall: 12 5/8 x 17 3/8in. (32.1 x 44.1cm)
Image: 7 1/2 x 9 7/8in. (19.1 x 25.1cm)
Image: 7 1/2 x 9 7/8in. (19.1 x 25.1cm)
ClassificationsPRINTS
Credit LineGift of Edward W. Root
Terms
Object number53.267
Description On View
Not on viewCollections
CopyrightPresumed copyright: the artist or the artist's representative/heir(s) / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY.
Label TextStuart Davis lived in Paris from June 1928 through June 1929. It was a pivotal moment for him professionally, just as he was finding his own stylistic path. His compositions were geometric, based on lines, planes, and volumes in harmony.
In Paris, Davis’s imagery combined flattened pictorial space and pattern with glimpses of streetscapes to charming success. Watching the city from a café was an important component his experience. Davis wrote, in 1929:
Here an artist is accepted as a respectable member of the community . . . In the swellest cafés one can sit all afternoon . . . without anything being thought about. At the next table people may be drinking champagne cocktails in dress suits.
And, in 1945:
I had the feeling that [Paris] was the best place in the world for an artist to live and work … The prevalence of the sidewalk café was an important factor. It provided easy access to one’s friends and gave extra pleasure to long walks through various parts of the city.
Mary E. Murray
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
