Stuart Davis (painter)

Edward Stuart Davis was an early American modernist painter. He was well known for his jazz-influenced, proto-pop art paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, bold, brash, and colorful, as well as his Ashcan School pictures in the early years of the 20th century. With the belief that his work could influence the sociopolitical environment of America, Davis' political message was apparent in all of his pieces from the most abstract to the clearest. Contrary to most modernist artists, Davis was aware of his political objectives and allegiances and did not waver in loyalty via artwork during the course of his career. By the 1930s, Davis was already a famous American painter, but that did not save him from feeling the negative effects of the Great Depression, which led to his being one of the first artists to apply for the Federal Art Project. Under the project, Davis created some seemingly Marxist works; however, he was too independent to fully support Marxist ideals and philosophies.

7 December 1892

Born on the same birth day (7 December): Aaron Carter • Ayako Fujitani • Christopher Nicole • Hal W. Smith • John Bennett Ramsey • Kevin Séraphin • Kyle Hendricks • Melba Pattillo Beals • Mickey Thompson • Noam Chomsky • Shiri Appleby • Thomas Bent

Born in the same month (December 1892): Alfred Edwin McKay • Don Barclay (actor) • Herman Potočnik • J. Paul Getty • Marcus Lee Hansen • Osbert Sitwell • Rebecca West • Ruth Chatterton • Sam Barry • Walter Hagen