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Still Image
A static visual representation. Examples include paintings, drawings, graphic designs, plans and maps. Recommended best practice is to assign the type Text to images of textual materials.
Object ID
80.08.01
Title
<em>Study for History of Communications Mural</em>
Date
1939
Artist
Stuart Davis
1892-1964
Born in Philadelphia, PA
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Drawing
Medium
Ink on paper
Dimension
The size of the object. For a still image, record the height and width in inches and in the following order: height, followed by an x, then width followed by "inches" (i.e. height x width inches). All dimensions should be listed as fractions!
For a physical object, record the height, width, and depth in inches and in the following order: height, followed by an x, then width, followed by an x, then depth followed by "inches" (i.e. height x width x depth inches). All dimensions should be listed as fractions!
14 15/16 x 34 inches
Description
describe the object
<p>Stuart Davis' preliminary study for his <em>History of Communications</em> mural features illustrations related to methods of communication, including speech, text, film, television, and radio. Commissioned for the 1939 World's Fair, Davis blanketed his composition with objects strewn all over and overlapping and drawn in black bold lines on a white background. None of these singular images stand above the other in size, value, or position. Charting the progression of communication in America, in the lower right the images include letters, a male messenger, sign language for writing, a large hand, in the center a phonograph, telephone wires, a mailed letter, and on the left newspaper, a microphone, television camera, and a roll of film.</p>
Credit Line
Write as follows: purchase/gift, entity that provided the money/artworks (example: 'Purchase, Acquisition Fund'
Purchase, Acquisition Fund
Rights Statement
In Copyright
Inscriptions
Inscribe any words, names or phrases that have been written, engraved or etched onto the object. Indicate where on the object the inscription is located using one of the following abbreviations: l.l. (lower left), l.r. (lower right), l.c. (lower center), u.l. (upper left), u.r. (upper right), u.c. (upper center). If the inscription appears in the middle of the object write out 'middle left/center/right.' Begin with the location then the inscription exactly as it appears on the object. Be sure to follow the location with a colon. For example 'l.r.: Patrick DesJarlait 1961.' If the inscription appears on the back of the work, write verso then the location colon inscription.
l.r.: Stuart Davis 1939
Notes
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Davis created four murals in the 1930s. The largest and most complex of these murals was the <em>Communications Mural</em>, which was privately commissioned for the 1939 World's Fair. The mural was designed for the Communications Pavilion and was later destroyed when the fair was dismantled. The original measured 44 feet high and 136 feet long. Davis' concept involved painting with white luminescent lines on a black background. The study featured here illustrates the mural in reverse, with black lines on a white background. <br /><br />Davis wrote over twenty pages of theoretical notations regarding the imagery of the mural. "My purpose is to make a work of Art, made of spatial elements associated with Communications [...] to be simple and easy to remember. Its tone-element is limited to white on black." According to his notations, the range of subjects organized across the mural included speech and language, writing and printing, drawing and painting, camera and motion picture, television and the telegraph, song and music, telephone and the radio, and the phonograph.
Publications
Kammen, Michael. <em>Gilbert Seldes and the Transformation of Culture of Criticism in the United States</em>, 4. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1996. <br /><br />Rasmussen, David. <em>Reading Habermas</em>, cover. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell, 1990. <br /><br />Wilken, Karen. <em>Stuart Davis</em>, 152. Cross River Press, 1987. <br /><br />Wilson, Richard Guy. <em>The Machine Age in America 1918-1941</em>, 30. Brooklyn, NY: The Brooklyn Museum, 1986. <br /><br />Weber, Bruce. <em>Stuart Davis' New York</em>, 68. West Palm Beach, FL: Norton Gallery & School of Art, 1985. <br /><br />Holman, Thomas S. <em>American Style: Early Modernist Works in Minnesota Collections</em>, cover and 49. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Museum of Art, 1981.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
<em>Study for History of Communications Mural</em>
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
1939
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Stuart Davis
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Drawing
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Ink on paper
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Purchase, Acquisition Fund
80.08.01
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Grace Borgenicht Gallery, Inc., New York City, NY; purchased by the M in 1980
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
In Copyright
Rights Holder
A person or organization owning or managing rights over the resource.
Estate of Stuart Davis
VAGA 111 Broadway, Suite 1006
New York, NY 10006
(212) 736-6666
info@vagarights.com
Date Copyrighted
Date of copyright.
1939
License
A legal document giving official permission to do something with the resource.
No License
Bird
Camera
Drawing
Film
Hand
Ink
Microphone
Newspaper
People
Phonograph
Public art
Stuart Davis
Study
Telephone wire
Text
Twentieth Century
World's Fair '39