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Jazz has been an influence in many artist's
work, from painting to other forms of music. Jazz is an American music form
that was developed from African-American work songs. The white man began
to imitate them in the 1920's and the music form caught on and became very
popular. Two artists that were influenced by jazz were Jean-Michel Basquiat
and Stuart Davis. The influence is quite evident in many of their works, such
as Horn Players, by Basquiat, and Swing Landscape, by Davis. Stuart Davis
was born in Philadelphia in 1894. He grew up in an artistic environment, his
father was art director of a Philadelphia newspaper, who had employed Luks,
Glackens, and other members of the Eight. He studied with Robert Henri from
1910 to 1913, made covers and drawings for the social realist periodical The
Masses, which was associated with the Ash-can School, and exhibited
watercolors in the Armory Show, which made an overwhelming impact on him.
After a visit to Paris in 1928 he introduced a new note into U.S. cubism, basing
himself on its synthetic rather than its analytical phase. Using natural forms,
particularly forms suggesting the characteristic environment of American life,
he rearranged them into flat poster-like patterns with precise outlines and
sharply contrasting colors. He later went on to pure abstract patterns, into
which he often introduced lettering, suggestions of advertisements, and
posters. The zest and dynamism of such works as Swing Landscape reflect his
interest in jazz, which Davis considered to be the counterpart to abstract art.
Davis is often considered to be the outstanding American artist to work in a
cubism idiom. He made witty and original use of it and created a distinctive
American style, for however abstract his works became he always claimed that
every image he used had its source in observed reality. Davis once said I
paint what I see in America, in other words I paint the American scene. Stuart
Davis' works of the late 1930's celebrate the urban and technological
environment and are quite complex and frequently recall Legers's brightly
coloured geometric forms. Early works depict saloons and ragtime musicians.
Titles and images of his works in the 30's reflect syncopation and unusual
rhythm of jazz, particularly swing . Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in 1960, four
years before Stuart Davis' death. At an early age Basquiat showed an interest
and love for drawing. His mother often took him to The Brooklyn Museum, The
Museum of Modern Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the age of
seven he and a friend of his wrote and illustrated a children's book. Basquiat
was inspired by Alfred Hitchcock films, cars, comic books, and Alfred E.
Newman from Mad Magazine. By the time he was seven he was an avid reader
of French, Spanish, and English texts. In his teenage years Basquiat ran away
from home often. He did not like obedience. By 1978 he was in with the in
crowd. The filmmakers and artists of New York. He enjoyed doing graffiti work
using the name SAMO ( same old *censored* ). Basquiat's career was divided into
three broad phases. From 1980 to 1982 he used painterly gestures, mostly
skeletal figures that signal his obsession with mortality. He also used figures
that represent street existence, such as policeman, buildings, and graffiti.
From 1982 to 1985 he was using more phrases and words in his paintings.
They reveal a strong interest in his black and hispanic identity and his
identification with historical and contemporary black figures and events. The
last phase was from 1986 until his death in 1988. His work displays a new type
of figurative depiction, using different symbols, sources, and content. He was
seeking a new territory in his work. When Basquiat's Horn Players and Davis'
Swing Landscape are displayed side by side it is quite obvious that they were
done by two different artist. In Swing Landscape it is not obvious that this
piece was inspired by jazz, as where in Horn Players the influence of jazz is
evident. These painters have two completely different styles but are inspired
by the same types of things. They are inspired by society and music. They
both appreciate the art value of music, especially jazz. Stuart Davis' Swing
Landscape is quite colorful and vibrant. The colors give a feeling of jazz with
the use of blues and cool colors. The use of the warm colors shows the
unpredictability of jazz. There are many forms of geometric shapes used in
this painting. The shapes used in this painting again show the unpredictability
of jazz, as well as the vibrancy of that music form. There are not a lot of
distinguishing symbols of jazz in the painting, except for maybe a pair of
sunglasses and a metronome in the bottom left corner. This painting
represents the feeling of jazz, even though it is not evident at first glance. It
definitely is a painting that needs to be studied for a while. The fact that the
music is incredibly vibrant and unpredictable is quite noticeable. I can envision
Stuart Davis listening to jazz and swing while painting this. You can see the
notes within the painting. If you listen real carefully you can hear the music. I
find Jean-Michel Basquiat's Horn Players to be more of a representation of the
people behind the music. Basquiat's painting has some color in it, but is not
vibrant. The colors almost show the dark and troubled side of jazz. He uses a
lot of words and symbols. It shows his hero Charlie Parker, which is evident by
the use of the word Ornithology, a composition by the great Charlie Parker
and his colleague in modern jazz, Dizzy Gillespie. Both of their names show up
in the painting. The word ear reminds us that jazz is from aural/oral roots,
more improvised than written down. The word larynx is in honor of the ability to
play full-throated. The painting also praises memorable scatting with the words
ooh shoo de obee. An art historian once suggested that the symbol soap
alludes to being clean in black argot, being, in other words, aesthetically
impeccable. Basquiat was very involved in his own celebration of the black
man and this is one of those paintings. There are similarities between Swing
Landscape and Horn Players even though they are very different pieces. With
two different styles the artists are able to show the viewer the values of jazz.
They both appreciate the variance of the music form jazz. A love for jazz, by
the artist, can be seen in both paintings.
Bibliography
Bibliography Marshall, Richard.
Jean-Michel Basquiat. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1992. Wasserman, Emily.
The American Scene - Early Twentieth Century. New York: Jupiter Art Library,
1984.
Word Count: 1100
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