Stuart Davis first came to Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1915. Many historians and critics

believe it was a "match made in Heaven". Gloucester provided Davis with the harbor and landscape images he used as he began to move toward his mature style as an American Modernist. Now nearly 85 years later, Davis is "returning" to Gloucester at a groundbreaking exhibition at the Cape Ann Historical Museum.

The picturesque Gloucester Harbor and surrounding landscapes have attracted numerous well known artists over the years. However Davis's presence began the start of something totally new. From 1915 through 1918, Davis spent his summers in a small red cottage inhabited by numerous other artists. Throughout those years, his work was shown at numerous exhibitions at Gallery-on the Moors in East Gloucester. During this time, many critics compared Davis' work to Post-Impressionist painters such as Gaugin and van Gough.

In the early to mid 1920's, Davis exhibited with the Gloucester Society of Artists, while teaching art classes out of his studio. He developed a personal art theory believing that an image has its own independent reality. He also experimented with abstraction which set him apart from other Gloucester artists who continued to represent the landscape in a realistic manner. During this time he also explored Cubism by painting imitations of collages and he began a series of analytical paintings which were compositions of still life images such as an egg beater or a percolator. Through simplification, the objects became geometric shapes and forms balanced in shape, size and hue.

 In the following years Davis' work prompted many critics to predict his forthcoming fame.

Around 1932, his exhibitions and activities in the Gloucester area were becoming less frequent. While still in Gloucester, he completed a large abstract wall mural for the men's lounge at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The mural contained objects such as a gasoline pump, a pipe and an automobile, as well Gloucester icons such as a sea gull and a sailboat. It was so large that two local painters had to help Davis roll and carry it out of the Bradford building where it was created.