Report from Rockport, 1940. Stuart Davis. Oil on canvas. Edith and Milton Lowenthal Collection, Bequest of Edith Abrahamson Lowenthal, 1991. © 2019 Estate of Stuart Davis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY.
The profusion of colors, lines, and shapes almost obscures the subject of this painting—the bustling town square of Rockport, Massachusetts. Though the scene is filled with gas pumps, trees, and storefront signs, Davis recalls the town’s thriving fishing industry with images of water, nautical flags, ropes, and a Seine-brand fishnet. Considered to be one of the artist’s key works from the 1940s, Report from Rockport epitomizes Davis’s fully articulated "color space" theory, in which juxtapositions of colors create the illusion of depth.