Stuart Davis
American, 1892-1964

Ready-to-Wear, 1955

Oil on canvas
142.6 x 106.7 cm (56 1/4 x 42 in.)
Signed l. right: Stuart Davis
Restricted gift of Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund W. Kunstadter; Goodman Endowment, 1956.137

Profoundly influenced by the European Modernist works displayed in the controversial 1913 Armory Show in New York, Stuart Davis looked to the sights and sounds of American life for his subject matter. In this vibrant painting, Davis explores the American invention of ready-to-wear clothing, a term first employed in an 1895 Montgomery Ward catalog. The broad, flattened areas of red, white, black, and blue color may represent leftover pieces of fabric, while the angular white shape at the upper-right corner suggests a pair of scissors. With its bright palette and energetic composition, the painting celebrates not only the vitality of the ready-to-wear clothing industry but also America itself.

Exhibition, Publication and Ownership Histories

Exhibition History

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute, 1955 Pittsburgh International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, Oct. 13-Dec. 19, 1955, cat. 73.

Youngstown, Ohio, Butler Institute of American Art, Twenty-First Annual Midyear Show, July 1-Sept. 6, 1956, cat. 42.

New York City, Downtown Gallery, Stuart Davis: Exhibition of Recent Paintings, 1954-1956, Nov. 6-Dec. 1, 1956, cat. 7.

Lake Forest, Ill., Durand Art Institute, Lake Forest College, A Century of American Painting: Masterpieces Loaned by The Art Institute of Chicago, June 10-16, 1957, cat. 40.

Washington, D.C., National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute, Stuart Davis Memorial Exhibition, May 25-July 5, 1965, cat. 103; traveled to Art Institute of Chicago, July 30-Aug. 29, 1965; New York City, Whitney Museum of American Art, Sept. 14-Oct. 17, 1965; Art Galleries, Universtiy of California-Los Angeles, Oct. 31-Nov. 28, 1965.

New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Stuart Davis, American Painter, Nov. 23, 1991-Feb. 16, 1992, cat. 154; traveled to San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mar. 26-June 7, 1992.

Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Stuart Davis, June 7-Oct. 5, 1997, cat. 51; traveled to Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Oct. 22, 1997-Jan. 12, 1998, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Feb. 1-Apr.19, 1998, Washington, D.C., National Museum of American Art, May 22-Sept. 7, 1998 (Washington, D.C. only).

Publication History

The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth-Century Painting and Sculpture, selected by James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein (Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), p. 108 (ill.).

Ownership History

Edith Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York City, 1955; sold to The Art Institute of Chicago, 1956.