ARTHUR BOWEN DAVIES (American, 1862-1928). MOODS, ROCKS, signed lower left. Gouache on panel - Framed, 15 3/4 in. x 10 3/4 in. Estimate $15,000-25,000
PROVENANCE: Estate of Rose Loring Heard, Grasslands Farm, Middleburg, VA
The Armory Show in New York in 1913 is credited with introducing America to avant-garde and progressive art, including cubism, fauvism and other post-impressionist schools. It was the American public's first exposure to European artists such as Picasso, Braque, Matisse and of course Marcel Duchamp - his cubist "Nude Descending a Staircase" became the icon of the show.
Arthur B. Davies served as President of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, the group created to plan and develop this international exhibition showcasing progressive art, both European and American. Davies, along with Walt Kuhn and Walter Pach, started selecting works for the exhibit by 1911, both in Europe and in New York.
The influence of the abstract and intellectual modality of the new trends proved irresistible to Davies, and in the years around the Armory Show he experimented with abstraction, producing some of the most avant-garde work in America at the time. He developed a unique blend of cubism and synchromy, and the current lot, "Moods, Rocks" is a fine example of this combination of cubist abstraction with synchromist color. REFERENCES: Brooks Wright, The Artist and the Unicorn NY, 1978 Bennard B. Perelman, The Lives, Loves, and Art of Arthur B. Davies, NY, 1998.
Some surface dirt and debris. Minor losses in dark blue areas at lower right and just above figure at upper right. Small minor scattered losses elsewhere. Horizontal texture of panel is evident in certain areas. Frame is attractive 20th century carved gold-leafed possible South American, Spanish colonial-style.
