Collection Favorites: Stuart Davis

June 16, 2010

Timing is everything. In the case of Stuart Davis's Package Deal #18 we see an artist moving through a drawing like a drummer hammers a beat. Hard and fast, tight and controlled pen strokes reflect a microcosm of 1956’s store shelves, a window on the world in reductive tones.


Stuart Davis, Study for Package Deal #18, 1956, gift of Earl Davis, © Estates of Stuart Davis/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY

Package Deal#18 is one of those drawings that exudes a resonance from the atmosphere in which it was created. Like most of Davis's works it combines elements from mass production, cubism, and geometry with a kind of cut-and-paste attitude that would feel right at home in any designer’s moleskin notepad. Even devoid of color this humble drawing commands attention both from the marketer and the conceptual artist.

Paul Wehby, Graphic Designer