Homage to the Ocean
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
The dancelike positions of the three nude women in this fanciful landscape recall the choreography of the famed Isadora Duncan, who had just returned to the United States in 1908 to promote her innovative dance movements, based on a free-form style that she attributed to the ancient Greeks. The painting most likely grew out of Davies' familiarity with Duncan's theory that the essence of dance technique rested in natural breathing paralleling the rhythms of the ocean tides--hence the painting's title. In Davies' hands this subject takes on a curious mixture of spirituality, academicism, and modernity that testifies to the eclecticism of his art.
Caption
Arthur B. Davies American, 1862–1928. Homage to the Ocean, ca. 1908. Oil on canvas, 28 1/16 x 23 1/8 in. (71.3 x 58.8 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Lillie P. Bliss, 31.276. No known copyright restrictions (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 31.276_transp1070.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
Homage to the Ocean
Date
ca. 1908
Medium
Oil on canvas
Classification
Dimensions
28 1/16 x 23 1/8 in. (71.3 x 58.8 cm)
Signatures
Signed lower left: "A.B. Davies"
Credit Line
Bequest of Lillie P. Bliss
Accession Number
31.276
Rights
No known copyright restrictions
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