Stuart Davis Master Palette

Palette Analysis

Stuart Davis sits in the centre of the value range, lending the palette a sense of even, sustained light. A distinctly cool atmosphere runs through this palette: sky, water, and mist given colour form. The absence of saturated colour is itself an expressive choice: this is a palette of restraint and atmosphere. The most saturated colour, #CDB892, is reserved to 10.0% of the surface, where it acts as a focal punctuation. The full value range is 63 units: broad enough to build convincing three-dimensional form. High luminosity and cool temperature suggest the plein-air condition: unfiltered daylight and open sky. Taken together, these qualities constitute Stuart Davis's chromatic voice - distinctive enough to be read across an entire body of work.