Ready-to-Wear

Ready-to-Wear — Stuart Davis. 1955.

Medium: Oil on canvas. Dimensions: 142.6 × 106.7 cm (56 1/8 × 42 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

The title of this vibrant painting refers to the American invention of mass produced, or “ready-to-wear,” clothing, a term first employed in an 1895 Montgomery Ward catalog. Stuart Davis looked to the sights and sounds of popular culture throughout his successful career, excited by innovations he saw in advertising, industry, and jazz music. Here, the broad, flattened areas of red, white, black, and blue may represent leftover pieces of fabric, while the angular white shape in the upper-right corner evokes a pair of scissors. With its bright palette and energetic composition, the painting celebrates not only the vitality of the ready-to-wear clothing industry but also, Davis suggested, America itself.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.