It's Got That Swing

Where: National Gallery of Art, West Building
When: through March 5, 2017

How nice to have to include the particular building for the locations of exhibits at the National Gallery again; I didn't think I'd miss the East Building that much, but I was quite wrong.

This week, I went to see the Stuart Davis retrospective, "In Full Swing."  Davis said he wanted to capture in his art "the thing [Walt] Whitman felt - America."  If jazz is America, I think he got his wish.

Influenced by the Cubists, you might mistake some of his early work for that of Picasso.  His work is never entirely Cubist, however, it's unique.  Reminiscent of many things, it's derivative of none.  In fact, the artist he most borrows from is himself, reworking old pieces into new works.  The curators have wisely forgone a strictly chronological arrangement in order to show this recycling to most effect.

Verdict: A good show, both as to the subject matter and the hanging.