The title of this vibrant painting refers to the American invention of mass produced, or “ready-to-wear,” clothing, a term first employed in an 1895 Montgomery Ward catalog. Stuart Davis looked to the sights and sounds of popular culture throughout his successful career, excited by innovations he saw in advertising, industry, and jazz music. Here, the broad, flattened areas of red, white, black, and blue may represent leftover pieces of fabric, while the angular white shape in the upper-right corner evokes 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, Davis suggested, America itself.
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Signed recto, bottom-right, in black pigment: "Stuart Davis". Titled verso, top-left, on stretcher, in blck marker: "READY-TO-WEAR"; signed and dated verso, top-right, on stretcher, in black marker: "STUART DAVIS 1955".
Dimensions
142.6 × 106.7 cm (56 1/8 × 42 in.)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Sigmund W. Kunstadter; Goodman Endowment Fund
Reference Number
1956.137
Extended information about this artwork
Katharine Kuh, “The Artist’s Voice: Talks with Seventeen Artists” (Harper & Row, 1962), 56–7 (ill.).
David Sylvester, ed. “Modern Art: From Fauvism to Abstract Expressionism” (Franklin Watts, 1965) p. 44 (ill.).
Michael Benedikt, “New York Letter: Stuart Davis, 1894–1964,” Art International 9, 8 (November 20, 1965) p. 44.
The Art Institute of Chicago: Twentieth–Century Painting and Sculpture, selected by James N. Wood and Teri J. Edelstein (Art Institute of Chicago, 1996), 108 (ill.).
Judith A. Barter, et al., American Modernism at the Art Institute of Chicago, From World War I to 1955 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2009), 358–61, cat. 186 (ill.).
Paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago: Highlights of the Collection, (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2017) p. 141.
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, DC, National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institute, Stuart Davis Memorial Exhibition, May 25–July 5, 1965, cat. 103; 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.
Art Institute of Chicago, The Modern Series: Shatter Rupture Break, Feb. 15–May 3, 2015, no cat.
New York City, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Stuart Davis, American Painter, Nov. 23, 1991–Feb. 16, 1992, cat. 154; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Mar. 26–June 7, 1992.
Venice, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Stuart Davis, June 7–Oct. 5, 1997, cat. 51; Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Oct. 22, 1997–Jan. 12, 1998, Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Feb. 1–Apr19, 1998, Washington, DC, National Museum of American Art, May 22–Sept. 7, 1998 (Washington, DC only).
New York, Whitney Museum of American Art, Stuart Davis: In Full Swing, June 10–Sept. 25, 2016; Washington DC, National Gallery of Art, Nov. 20, 2016–Mar. 5, 2017; de Young, San Francisco Fine Arts Museums, Apr. 8–Aug. 6, 2017; Bentonville, Arkansas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Sept. 16, 2017–Jan. 8, 2018 (New York and Washington DC only) cat. 63.
The artist; with Edith Halpert, Downtown Gallery, New York, 1955; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1956.
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
