The Mellow Pad
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| The Mellow Pad | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Stuart Davis |
| Year | 1945–1951 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 66.7 cm × 107 cm (26.3 in × 42 in) |
| Location | Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, New York |
The Mellow Pad is a 1945–1951 jazz-inspired painting by American modernist painter Stuart Davis. It is held by the Brooklyn Museum of Art in Brooklyn, New York.[1]
The origins of The Mellow Pad lie in an earlier 1931 painting by Davis titled House and Street,[1] now held by the Whitney Museum of American Art.[2][3] Davis was deeply inspired by jazz music; the painting's title "The Mellow Pad" is a jazz term for the satisfying emotional state reached during a "sweet spot" in the music.[1][2][4] He also attributed his vibrant color and style to jazz, and the painting's irregular dots, arcs, curves, and shapes visually parallel the music's syncopated rhythms.[2]
Amidst its complex and abstract patterns, the painting does retain structure. Near the center of the painting, a vertical black bar divides the composition in half, thus acting as the painting's focal point.[4] This bar can be traced back to a similar central divide found in House and Street.[2][3]
Davis worked on The Mellow Pad intermittently for about six years from 1945 to 1951.[2] Upon completing the composition, Davis remarked that he felt "probably the most objective Art realization of my life"[5] since he believed he had successfully captured a jazz experience using only abstract forms.[2] As a result, The Mellow Pad proves to be not only a pivotal moment in Davis's career but also an anticipation of new art movements less grounded in realism such as abstract expressionism.[6] Some even describe The Mellow Pad as Davis's seminal work.[5]