Stuart Davis (1894-1964) was an American cubist painter whose colorful compositions, with their internal logic and structure, often camouflaged the American flavor of his themes.

Stuart Davis was born in Philadelphia on Dec. 7, 1894. His father was the art editor of the Philadelphia Press. At the age of 16 Davis began studying art with Robert Henri, leader of "The Eight," a group of artists also known as the "Ashcan school." In the famous 1913 Armory Show, Davis exhibited five watercolors. His works of this period are close to the realistic style of "The Eight," but Davis soon began moving toward the more lively, Fauve manner, visible in Gloucester Street (1916).

Davis's new interest in cubism is partly explained by his statement that "a painting ... is a two-dimensional plane surface and the process of making a painting is the act of defining two-dimensional space on that surface." He experimented with the geometric visual...