“Stuart Davis was a New York artist of the 20th century best known for his
playful Modernist paintings filled with bright colors and geometric shapes. But early in his career, he was influenced by the
Ashcan School—and he stuck with the social realist style with this 1912 piece, Consumer Coal Company. It’s a powerful painting that invites viewers to feel the sharp snap of snow whipping around a low-rise block somewhere in New York City. (I’m guessing Lower Manhattan, see the Federal-style houses with the dormer windows.) Forced to work in the blustery weather, the men from the coal company shovel a load into a
sidewalk coal hole, where it can be transferred to the furnace to keep residents from freezing to death. ...”
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