Anyone familiar with the paintings of Stuart Davis (1892–1964)
knows that he had a sense of humor. It’s there to see in his
rambunctious rhythms, eye-popping palette and cartoon-like
distillations of form; it is perhaps most readily apparent in his
terse and slangy appropriations of popular culture. Just in case
one needs a reminder of this great artist’s wit there is Greek
Backwards (1921), a watercolor drawing included in Stuart
Davis: Art and Theory, 1920–1931, a tiny yet beautifully
considered exhibition at the Pierpont Morgan Library. The
humor in the piece is evident in its form, in the
lighter-than-air ballet his cobbled shapes engage in. Yet in
writing the word “Greek” backwards on the page, Davis also takes a
more literal dig at Cubism, the wellspring of his art, and the
contemporaneous response to it. At the time, Modern painting was
largely considered to be unintelligible by a skeptical general
public. “It’s all Greek to me” may not have been the verbatim
response to the new art, but it was its essence. Certainly, it
provided Davis with a knowing and appreciative punch line.
When the notice of Art and Theory arrived in my mailbox, I took
stock of its title and feared the worst. Anytime anyone mentions
“theory” nowadays one thinks of the Postmodernist
tendency to relegate art to extra-aesthetic purpose. Surely an
institution as august as the Morgan wouldn’t stoop to such
faddishness? Happily, it doesn’t. Gathering
together a sketchbook, a journal, prints, drawings, and a