American Modernism at Mid-Century ─ The Work of Morris Davidson

This volume presents the first scholarly consideration of Morris Davidson (1898--1979), an influential painter and educator whose work has been neglected in the art history of mid-twentieth-century American painting. Davidson studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, with painters in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and eventually in Paris. He became a leader in the cause of abstract painting through his teaching in New York City and Provincetown, his influential books -- Understanding Modern Art (1931) and An Approach to Modern Painting (1948) -- and his own widely exhibited work.

Two essays address Davidson's place in New York and in Provincetown, a memoir of his Cape Cod art school and studio captures his private world, and a catalog of twenty-five exemplary works illuminates his varied production.

Kevin D. Murphy is Andrew W. Mellon Chair in the Humanities and professor and chair of History of Art at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of Jonathan Fisher of Blue Hill, Maine: Commerce, Culture, and Community on the Eastern Frontier (University of Massachusetts Press, 2010).