At the encouragement of Henri and Joan Sloan, Stuart Davis participates in his first exhibition and shows five paintings in the "Exhibition of Independent Artists".
1911
Shows two paintings with John Sloan, George Luks, William Glackens, and George Bellows at Newark's Free Public Library's exhibition entitled "City Landscapes".
1912
Babette (Burlesque) is shown in an exhibition organized by the Minnesota State Art Society.
Davis paints his first self-portrait in oil.
1913
Exhibits five watercolors at New York's "International Exhibition of Modern Art" ("Armory Show").
Contributes illustrations to the socialist magazine The Masses on a regular basis. As a result receives first paid commission for weekly drawings for Harper's Weekly.
1914
Ebb Tide-Provincetown shown at MacDowell Club in New York.
Supplies drawings to magazine Judge and newspaper the World.
1915
The Bookman, the Globe and Commercial Advertiser, as well as the New York Sunday Call print his illustrations.
1916
Shows thirteen works in American Salon of Humorists' exhibition at Folsom Galleries in New York.
Co-founds portfolio magazine Spawn with Glintenkamp and submits drawings.
Exhibits paintings in the inaugural exhibition at the Gallery-on-the-Moors in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
1917
The Pagan and Spawn publish his illustrations and a drawing with statement by Davis is featured in Slate.
Participates in the First Annual Exhibition of the Society of Independent Artists held at Grand Central Palace in New York.
Has his first solo exhibition at the Sheridan Square Gallery in New York (forty-four works).
1918
Begins to write about his art theories.
Contributes illustrations to The Liberator (formerly The Masses). Continues to submit drawings through 1922.
1919
Creates his last two self-portraits in oil.
1920
Four drawings are featured The Dial, an avant-garde literary magazine, to which Davis submits works until 1923.
One of Davis's Gloucester drawings is selected for the frontispiece of Kora in Hell: Improvisations by poet William Carlos Williams.
1921
The New York Herald publishes Davis's article about the writer Floyd Dell with illustrations.
Davis works on the Tobacco Still Life series.
Shows fifteen works in Exhibition of Paintings by Stuart Davis and J. Torres-Garcia and Sculptures by Stanislaw Szukalski at the Whitney Studio Club, New York.
1922
Paints several large Cubist still lifes.
Joins the Modern Artists of America and subsequently exhibits with them at the Joseph Brummer Galleries in New York.
Becomes a director of the Society of Independent Artists.
Helps to organize the Gloucester Society of Artists.
1923
Creates costume designs and a stage set for the play The Puritans by Ralph deGolier.
Shadowland publishes his article "A Painter of City Streets: An Analysis of the Work of Glenn Coleman".
1924
Paints Electric Bulb, Edison Mazda and Odol.
Exhibits works with the Gloucester Society of Artists and will continue to do so every year until 1926.
1925
First solo museum exhibition held at the Newark Museum, New Jersey.
Establishes lifelong friendship with Holger Cahill, who works for Newark Museum and subsequently serves as the national director of the Works Progress Administration in Washington, D.C.
1926
New Masses publishes five of Davis's illustrations.
The Whitney Studio Club holds a retrospective exhibition of his paintings showing forty-three works.
Receives a $125 monthly allowance from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney for one year.
1927
Begins the Egg Beater series.
Edith Gregor Halpert's Downtown Gallery exhibits his works and holds his first solo exhibition. The professional relationship with the Downtown Gallery will last for the majority of the next thirty-seven years.
1928
The Valentine Gallery of New Yorks holds an exhibition of works by Stuart Davis and Glenn O. Coleman.
On behalf of Mrs. Whitney, Juliana Force of the Whitney Studio Club, provides Davis with $900 for his trip to Paris by purchasing two of his paintings.
Socializes with Niles Spencer, John Graham, Robert Carlton Brown, and Elliot Paul, and meets with Gertrude Stein and Fernand Léger while in Paris.
1929
Davis meets Arshile Gorky, probably introduced by John Graham. Because of their close friendship, Willem de Kooning refers to the artists as "The Three Musketeers".
The Whitney Studio Galleries features a show of Davis's recent watercolors.
1930
His Paris paintings are shown at a one-man exhibtion at the Downtown Gallery.
Begins to receive a monthly stipend from Edith Halpert in exchange for selections of his painting output. In 1933, Halpert can no longer provide the monthly stipend.
Painting and Sculpture by Living Americans at the recently opened Museum of Modern Art includes three of Davis's paintings.
1931
Works on New York-Paris series and works on a series of lithographs.
The New York-Paris works are exhibited in a one-man show at the Downtown Gallery in March and in December, the Crillon Galleries of Philadelphia holds a one-man exhibition.
1932
One-man exhibition, Stuart Davis: American Scene held at the Downtown Gallery.
Two works included in show at Museum of Modern Art in May.
Receives a mural commission from the interior designer Donald Deskey for the men's lounge at Radio City Music Hall in New York City (Men Without Women).
A painting is included in the Whitney Museum of American Art's First Biennial of Contemporary American Painting.
1934
Joins the Artists' Committee of Action and is one of the founding members and organizers of the Artists' Union, a trade union set up for artists that year.
The Downtown Gallery features a one-man show of Davis's recent paintings and watercolors.
One of his works is included in a group exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
1935
Six works are exhibited in a group show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Meets with Alexander Trachtenberg, Hugo Gellert, and others in order to create the American Artists' Congress.
Receives nomination for the position of vice president of the Artists' Union.
1936
The WPA's weekly salary is Davis's main source of income.
He serves as executive secretary of the American Artists' Congress.
1937
Begins to work on the mural Swing Landscape for the Williamsburg Housing Project in Brooklyn under the auspices of the WPA, which will be completed the following year. The mural will never be installed at its anticipated location.
Participates in the annual membership exhibitions of the American Artists' Congress in 1937 and 1938 and is elected national chairman.
1938
Creates book jacket design for Concert Pitch by Elliot Paul.
1939
Hired by Donald Deskey to design a mural, History of Communication, for the New York World's Fair.
Sponsored by the WPA, Davis creates Mural for Studio B, WNYC, Municipal Broadcasting Company for the New York city radion station.
Due to employment length regulations, leaves the WPA and loses main source of income.
Paints the Bass Rocks series.
1940
Leaves the American Artists' Congress. Other members including Niles Spencer, William Zorach, and George Biddle resign as well.
The Museum of Modern Art acquires its first painting by Davis, Summer Landscape.
1941
The Cincinnati Modern Art Society holds a retrospective exhibition (with Marsden Hartley).
1942
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, commissions Flying Carpet, for a special exhibition of rugs designed by ten American painters.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art's exhibition Artists for Victory includes Bass Rocks #1, 1939.
1943
One-man exhibition held at the Downtown Gallery. It is the first since 1934.
1944
Arboretum by Flashbulb, 1942, receives Third Honorable Mention at the "International Exhibition", Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh.
Wins first prize for The Terminal, 1937, at Pepsi-Cola's "Portrait of America" exhibition. The work is reproduced for the 1945 Pepsi-Cola calendars as January's illustration.
Report from Rockport, 1940, is purchased by Edith and Milton Lowenthal, future friends of Davis and major collectors of his work.
1945
Receives the J. Henry Schiedt Memorial Prize for Ursine Park, 1942, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
The Museum of Modern Art holds retrospective exhibition, including fifty-three works.
Autobiograpical monograph published as part of a series of volumes on leading contemporary American artists by the American Artists Group.
1946
The Downtown Gallery holds a retrospective exhibition of his drawings, watercolors, and gouaches.
The Container Corporation of America commissions Davis to create a painting for its State series (Pennsylvania). The company uses it in advertisements until 1950.
One-man exhibition held at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Four of his works are exhibited in Advancing America, a controversial paintings exhibit acquired by the U.S. Department's Office of Cultural Affairs.
1947
Receives the George H. Hallowell Prize at the 1st St. Botolph Club American Water Color Exhibition at the Robert C. Vose Galleries, Boston, for Ana, 1942.
1948
Wins Second Purchase Award for Lawn and Sky, 1931, in the La Tausca Pearls competition at the Riverside Museum, New York.
Named one of the best American painters in a poll of museum directors and critics carried out by Look magazine.
Wins Norman Wait Harris Bronze Medal for Ana, 1942.
1949
Stuart Davis, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Franklin Watkins: Thirty Paintings exhibition at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in Santa Barbara, includes ten paintings by Davis.
1950
Wins the John Barton Payne Medal and purchase for Little Giant Still Life at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.
1951
Several works included in Abstract Painting and Sculpture in America exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art. Davis participates in a symposium with Willem de Kooning, Alexander Calder, Fritz Glarner, George L.K. Morris, and Robert Motherwell, held in conjunction with the exhibition.
The Bienal São Paulo in Brazil features three of his works.
Wins Ada S. Garrett Prize at the Art Institute of Chicago.
1952
Awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, enabling him to concentrate on painting full-time.
Solo exhibition at the United States Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
The Museum of Modern Art purchases further works.
The Downtown Gallery holds a retrospective exhibition of works by Davis and Yasuo Kuniyoshi.
1953
The Metropolitan Museum of Art acquires Semé, completed in March.
1954
Rapt at Rappaport's included in Sidney Janis Gallery's exhibition Nine American Painters Today in New York.
Based on his interest in the "four-color problem", starts to limit his paintings palette to four or five colors.
The Downtown Gallery holds solo exhibition of his recent paintings.
1955
Commission by the Gardner and Florence Cowles Foundation for mural Allée in Drake University's Hubbell Dining Hall, Des Moines, Iowa.
1956
Elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
The American group show at the Venice Biennale includes Something on the 8 Ball, City, 1953-54.
Solo exhibition at the Downtown Gallery features fourteen paintings and gouaches.
Receives honorable mention in the "151st Annual Exhibition" at The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia.
1957
Receives the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award for Painting Medal.
Stuart Davis, a traveling retrospective exhibition including fifty-five works, is first held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.
Davis's last mural Composition Concrete created for the H.J. Heinz Research Center, Pittsburgh.
Owh! in San Pão receives majority of nominations in American museum directors' poll carried out by New York Magazine for an American artwork made after WWII to endure.
1958
Two works shown at the first Inter-American Biennial in Mexico City.
Awarded Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum International Award with fellow artists Edward Hopper, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, and Mark Rothko.
1959
The American National Art Exhibition organized by the United States Information Agency includes a work by Davis. The controversial exhibition travels to Moscow.
The Whitney Museum of American Art acquires The Paris Bit, 1959.
George Braziller, Inc., publishes Stuart Davis, a monograph, as part of the Great American Artists series.
1960
Grove Press publishes the monograph Stuart Davis by Rudi Blesh. A related exhibiton is shown at the Downtown Gallery in May.
Première, 1957, captures the National Section of the Guggenheim International Award.
1961
Wins The Art Institute of Chicago's Flora Mayer Witkowsky Cash Prize for Pochade, 1956-58.
Davis's last published illustration is featured in Art in America.
1962
The Downtown Gallery holds his last one-man exhibition in April.
Interviewed for the Archives of American Art.
Wins the American Institute of Architects' Fine Arts Gold Medal.
1963
Takes part in the Armory Show at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute in Utica, New York.
1964
Wins the Joseph E. Temple Gold Medal for Letter and His Ecol, 1962, at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia.
Standard Brand, 1961, is awarded with the Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Logan Art Institute Medal and Prize at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Artnews magazine publishes his last interview in September.
Stuart Davis dies on June 24 in New York City from a stroke, and is buried in Springs, New York.
The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts holds a retrospective exhibition including twenty-five works. Further memorial exhibitions organized by the National Collection of Fine Arts, Washington, D.C., and the United States Information Agency.
The United States Post Office issues a commemorative stamp based on one of Davis's compositions in December.
