Harvest Festival 1919 - 1920

Arthur Bowen Davies created "Harvest Festival" using lithography. Davies made this work during a time of significant cultural shifts in America, as the nation grappled with industrialization, urbanization, and evolving social norms. The print depicts a scene of nude figures in a natural setting. The figures, mostly women, are rendered with soft lines and idealized forms, evoking a sense of timelessness and harmony. There's a tension here between the romanticized depiction of nature and the realities of the changing social landscape. Davies’s emphasis on the female form and the pastoral hints at desires, anxieties, and the search for identity. Davies once said, "We are all seeking a land that is fairylike." With "Harvest Festival," Davies invites us to consider the emotional and personal dimensions of art in shaping our understanding of self and society.