Early American Modernist Painting, 1910-1935

Davidson's book is an extremely clear, straight-forward account of modernist painting in the United States before World War II and the rise of the U.S. as world art capitol. It is the most comprehensive survey of the topic to date that is still in print. This comprehensiveness is the result of the book's strictly defined limits; sculpture, architecture, design and so on are excluded. It is commendable for its well-sturctured organization of a mountain of material about which little specialized, scholarly literature had been written before a survey was attempted. Davidson's book is equally commendable for the efficiency of its text; it summarizes a great deal of information in a smooth, orderly, useful way. It brings to the reader's attention many artists and works of art that are virtually unknown to most art admirers, including those interested in both American and modern art. The usefulness of the book is diminished, however, because there are very few color illustrations and the black-and-white illustrations are rather poor (especially a problem in a little-known branch of modernist art where the reader is not likely to be familiar with the material) and the scholarship on the various movements and artists covered has developed considerably since the book was published nearly twenty years ago. The book is now older than most of the scholarship such a survey text would rely on for support. It does suffer from the same problem that survey books often do; it covers so much material with minimal depth that a true, lasting appreciation for the material covered is not forthcoming.