Stuart Davis's Painting and Politics in the 1930s

Discusses the relationship between the American artist Stuart Davis's (1892-1964) painting and his politics during the 1930s. The author describes Davis as an artist-activist committed to Communist political theory, states that as a modernist he did not subscribe to Stalinist aesthetics, and argues that critical interpretations of his work suggesting that the artist separated his political activism from his painting have failed to appreciate the political resonances of Davis's work. She states that Davis was adamant that his work be understood from a realist perspective despite its commitment to European formalist developments, illustrates the artist's own perception of his connection with the concerns of other workers in the painting "Composition" (1935; col. illus.), and discusses various paintings demonstrating Davis's direct engagement with socio-political issues, highlighting his participation in the Waterfront Art Show held in New York to which he contributed the painting "Waterfront demonstration" (1936; col. illus.) showing his support for the emergent maritime unions. She describes Davis's adherence to the artist's right to freedom of expression, notes the indebtedness of his paintings to European formal techniques, and concludes by arguing that despite the degree of abstraction incorporated into his work, Davis did conceive of it as playing a vital socio-political role.