Stuart Davis, Rapt at Rappaport’s, 1951-52

Narrator: Davis called this painting Rapt at Rappaport’s. It’s based on an earlier work called Landscape with Saw. The saw is barely recognizable, with its red-and-white polka-dotted handle and patterned blade. But as abstract as this painting may appear, it was important to Davis that it, like all his paintings, was rooted in reality. 

Stuart Davis: I have never regarded myself as an abstract artist. Personally I felt that talking about “abstract” art had many dangerous and misleading implications. That it cut off the real fact that what is interesting in any painting is its specific references, which however they may differ with different people that look at the painting, are nevertheless specific. And to call those specific things abstract always worked the wrong way with me. And as to the content of it, I regard the fact that I give importance to simple things that give me pleasure, I think that is the content that has validity with me.