Line of Mountains (Primary Title)
Moral Law (Former Title)
Arthur Bowen Davies, American, 1862 - 1928 (Artist)
Throughout his career, Arthur B. Davies merged conventional academic principles with modernist artistic trends. In Line of Mountains, he placed the foreground array of figures before the middle-ground foothills, above which he depicted a greenstrip denoting plains. Dominating the composition’s top register is the line of mountains that provides the title. While the landscape possesses traditional atmospheric perspective, the lithe figures introduce a modern sensibility. Exercising and stretching, the individuals evoke Davies’s well-known interest in Delsartism, a movement that merged Greek art and mythology with gymnastics, breathing exercises, and modern dance (he used dancers as his models).
Today, Davies is probably best known for his curatorial efforts and as a consultant to early collectors of modern art. He helped organize the landmark exhibition, The Eight, in 1908, in which his idyllic symbolist landscapes hung adjacent to works by urban realists such as John Sloan and Everett Shinn. As president of the Association of American Painters and Sculptors, Davies also played a key role in the planning of the 1913 Armory Show, America’s first in-depth introduction to modern art.
The Armory Show at 100, New York Historical Society, October 11, 2013 – February 23, 2014. Online exhibition (ongoing?): http://armory.nyhistory.org/a-line-of-mountains/ (Accessed April 7, 2015).
Painters of a New Century: The Eight, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, September 6 – November 3, 1991; Denver Art Museum, December 7, 1991 – February 16, 1992; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, April 16 – June 7, 1992; The Brooklyn Museum, June 26 – September 21, 1992
The Shock of Modernism in America, Nassau County Museum of Fine Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY, April 29 – July 29, 1984
Dream Vision: The Work of Arthur B. Davies, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, March 17 – May 10, 1981; The McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX, June 1 – July 15, 1981; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY, September 8 – October 30, 1981; and The Philips Collection, Washington, D.C., December 6, 1981 – February 6, 1982
Arts Festival Exhibition, Madison College, Harrisonburg, Va., March 21 – April 2, 1976
The Independent Spirit in American Painting, Artmobile, September 1975
American Prophets, Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, February 22 – March 25, 1973
#NY – 19, The Ash Can School, American Federation of Arts, September 1966 – September 1967
The Armory Show 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY, February 17 – March 31, 1963; Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY, (at 60th Regiment Armory), April 6 - 28, 1963
International Exhibition of Modern Art, 69th Regiment Armory, New York, NY, February 17 – March 17, 1913.
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.