American painter Brad Davis (1942−) studied in Chicago, Minnesota, and New York, where he now lives and works. Visual depictions of distant cultures and the modernist landscape tradition typify his work. The painting in the Ludwig's collection offers a rocky, striated, dramatic landscape inhabited by crumpled bluish, pinkish, grayish, and brownish forms; a chasm opens in the middle, and occasional twisted trees stand here and there; the view, extending all the way to the distant mountaintop, is reminiscent of far Eastern − particularly Japanese − landscapes. This is a stark contrast to the broad, fuzzy outlines, the confused colors of the sky, the thoroughly unrealistic handling of light and shadow, and a thickly-applied oil and brushstrokes more reminiscent of western European traditions. The two mixtures we see in this work are typical of Davis, and make this landscape an anachronistic and imaginary one.
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New Acquisitions – Rarely Seen Works 13. March, 2009 – 14. June
The Ludwig Museum possesses a relatively small yet internationally significant collection of over 400 contemporary artworks. As the museum’s permanent exhibition is only able to show a small portion of the collection, we make an effort to present a fresh selection from time to time.