Lemon Look
Artist
Gene Davis
(American, 1920–1985)
Date1960
Mediumacrylic on canvas
Dimensionscanvas: 235.3 x 229.2 cm (92 5/8 x 90 1/4 in.)
ClassificationsPaintings
Credit LineGift of Sidney and Rosalie Rose
Object number1981.344
Label TextA sportswriter and a White House reporter before turning to art in his 40s, Gene Davis was dedicated to exploring chromatic effects in painted expanses of stripes. He had this advice about experiencing his work: “…look at the painting in terms of individual colors. In other words, instead of simply glancing at the work, select a specific color…and take the time to see how it operates across the painting. Approached this way, something happens, I can’t explain it. But one must enter the painting through the door of a single color. And then, you can understand what my painting is all about.”
His title of this painting, Lemon Look, tells us as much. But “lemon” as opposed to “yellow” references a color in the world of things not unlike the stripe, also a common part of the environment (wallpaper, clothing, awnings, etc.). Stripes assert the flatness of the canvas and deny any illusory projection or recession, but Davis was keenly aware of their connection to ‘60s cultural clichés in Pop art: “I thought maybe stripes would be my way of getting to trite subject matter…They are trite in the same way that the American flag and Campbell’s soup cans and comic strips are trite.”
ProvenanceMr. Sidney Rose, Worcester MAOn View
Not on view
