Stuart Davis, Memo #2, 1956

Narrator: Throughout this exhibition, there are families of paintings—groups that treat composition as a process of theme and variation that might take place over decades. This painting, Memo, is the fourth version of a composition that Davis first devised in 1930s.

Harry Cooper: We think of modern artists as always looking for something new, trying to be original, wanting to innovate. That's what we value about modern art, but there's always a pull in the other direction, a pull of tradition. Davis studied art of the past, especially the great modern masters of the last couple of generations behind him. He also studied his own work, and I think he became his own master in a way. The process of recycling his own work was the means by which he was able to move ahead.

Narrator: To take a close look at the development of these four paintings, please find the earliest one—it’s a black-and-white composition called Landscape. Then tap the button on your screen.